im  RUSSIANS 

■'an  interpretation 


RICHARDSON  WRIGHT 


-iil'i;r!  ;!i;!t;r" 


r^ 


THE  LIBRARY 

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THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 


THE  RUSSIANS 

AN  INTERPRETATION 


BY 


RICHARDSON  WRIGHT 

Author  of  '^Through  Siberia,  an  Empire  in  the  Making,' 
''The  Open  Door"  etc. 


You  cannot  understand  Russia  by  the  Intelligence ; 
You  cannot  measure  her  by  the  ordinary  foot-rule ; 
She  has  her  own  peculiar  formation ; 
You  can  only  believe  in  Russia. 

—TIVTCHEV 


NEW   YORK 

FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1917,  by 
Frederick  A.  Stokes  Company 


All  Rights  Reserved,  including  translation  into  foreign  languages 


• 


S 


TO 
ALBERT  JONES  FOSTER 


537GG2 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Preface ix 

CHAPTER 

I.  The  Strength  of  the  Adolescent      .        .  i 

II.  What  is  a  Russian? 20 

III.  A  Democracy  in  the  Making      ...  42 

IV.  The  Things  He  Revolts  Against  ...  65 
V.  "This  is  the  Faith  of  the  Fathers"      .         .  89 

VI.  The  Moujik's  Religion         .         .         .         .112 

VII.  The  Russian  as  a  Business  Man  .         .         .131 

VIII.  The  Russian  as  a  Working  Man  .         .        .  149 

IX.  Defining  Dostoevsky  and  Some   Others     .  177 

X.  The  Colors  on  the  Russian  Palette    .        •  197 

XI.  When  Russia  Sings 209 

XII.  The  Russian  Land  of  Promise     .         .        .  227 

XIII.  Russia's   Manifest  Destinies        .        .        .  246 

XIV.  Russia  and  America 267 

Index 275 


PREFACE 

It  is  possible  to  become  quite  mad  on  the  subject 
of  Russia.  In  fact,  those  who  are  attracted  to  her 
eventually  become  either  obsessed  with  enthusiasm  for 
all  things  Russ  or  embittered  with  suspicion  and  hatred. 
They  would  seem  to  prove  that  there  was  no  middle 
course.  One  cannot  take  Russia  casually;  she  is  too 
big,  too  fundamental,  too  promising.  She  demands 
attention.  Her  ways  are  different  from  the  ways  of 
most  nations.  Her  viewpoint  is  of  a  nature  that  breeds 
immediate  controversy. 

In  attempting  to  steer  a  middle  course  through  these 
pages  I  may  have  failed  time  and  again ;  yet  a  via  media 
was  my  plan.  Any  interpretation  must  be  made  clear 
both  to  those  who  are  blind  to  the  virtues  of  the  sub- 
ject in  hand  and  those  who  are  blind  to  its  faults. 
Hatred  and  suspicion  of  Russia  has  led  some  to  a  com- 
plete denial  of  her  strength  or  good  intentions;  en- 
thusiastic obsession  has  led  apologists  to  a  complete 
denial  of  her  weaknesses.  To  both  classes  come  occa- 
sional awakenings  that  disrupt  preconceived  theories. 
Frankly,  I  have  experienced  this  disenchantment  many 
times.  Withal,  in  traveling  over  the  Russian  Empire 
and  through  seven  years  of  constant  study  in  Russian 
affairs,  I  have  had  more  pleasant  awakenings  than  un- 
pleasant. I  have  learned  to  be  very  slow  in  formulat- 
ing judgments  from  newspaper  reports  or  drawing 
quick  decisions  from  a  transient  situation. 

ix 


X  PREFACE 

The  deeper  I  have  gone  into  Russian  matters  the 
more  have  I  been  influenced  by  the  spiritual  fact  rather 
than  by  the  statistic.  Statistics  change;  the  genus  is 
permanent.  The  pageant  of  a  people  moves  along 
very  slowly.  Ideals  are  not  born  overnight.  The 
grand  scheme  of  development  is  rarely  obvious  on  the 
surface.  The  destiny  is  rarely  in  sight.  What  Russia 
has  been  makes  her  what  she  is  to-day.  The  mark  of 
the  potter's  thumb  is  upon  her — but  you  must  look 
very  closely  to  see  it. 

Americans  are  people  of  statistics.  We  lay  great 
store  by  size  and  number.  We  comprehend  the  ro- 
mance of  figures  as  do  few  nations.  Moreover,  we  are 
very  much  concerned  with  making  a  living.  Russia, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  just  arriving  at  a  comprehension 
of  figures,  and  she  is  very  much  more  concerned  with 
making  a  life 

It  is  in  the  sort  of  life  Russia  is  attempting  to  make 
that  American  interest  is  greatest.  To  phrase  it  col- 
loquially, we  are  curious  to  find  out  what  they  are 
trying  to  do  over  there.  But  before  that  question  is 
answered,  we  must  understand  what  the  people  are 
like,  what  they  believe  in,  how  they  go  about  their 
work,  what  their  ideals  are  and  how  closely  they  are 
coming  to  them.  The  statistic  may  show  how  the 
wind  blows ;  the  ideals  of  a  people  constitute  the  power 
behind  the  wind. 

In  the  following  pages  I  have  attempted  to  interpret 
the  why  and  how  of  Russian  life  so  that  Americans 
can  understand  what  the  Russians  are  trying  to  do, 
what  their  present  activities  presage  for  the  future,  and 
how  we  as  a  people  can  establish  with  the  Russians 
an  entente  cordiale  that  will  have  basis  in  something 


PREFACE  xi 

firmer  than  the  fluctuations  of  commerce  or  passing 
enthusiasm  over  the  Ballet  Russe. 

There  is  no  reason  under  the  sun  why  the  people 
of  the  greatest  republic  should  not  be  on  friendly  terms 
with  the  people  of  the  greatest  autocracy.  Between  no 
two  nations  are  there  so  many  points  of  contact — what 
the  states  possess  fitting  so  snugly  into  what  Russia 
requires. 

The  United  States  will  sorely  need  the  friendship  of 
alien  folk  when  the  war  is  done.  Moreover,  in  self- 
defense  it  behooves  us  to  cultivate  the  Russian  people. 
A  Russo-Japanese  alliance  looms  all  too  menacingly  on 
the  distant  horizon.  There  is  no  reason  for  our  being 
too  proud  to  be  friendly. 

To  the  fostering  of  this  friendly  spirit  based  on 
mutual  understanding  and  sympathy,  these  pages  are 
devoted. 

Just  as  I  finished  these  pages  the  uprising  of  the 
Douma  leaders,  expected  by  those  intimately  informed 
on  Russian  affairs,  came  about.  It  was,  as  I  had  be- 
lieved it  would  be,  practically  a  bloodless  revolution. 
The  blow  was  struck,  the  end  attained,  and  imme- 
diately those  in  power  devoted  their  energies  to  re- 
storing order  and  furthering  the  campaigns  of  the 
armies  in  the  field. 

The  blow  was  struck  at  the  pro-German  and  Ger- 
man influences  at  Petrograd,  influences  which  had 
thwarted  every  movement  made  by  the  army  from 
the  beginning  of  the  war.  It  terminated  German 
power  in  Russia.  It  opened  to  the  great  Slav  Empire 
the  opportunity  to  develop  its  own  future  after  its 
own  fashion.  It  meant  that  the  forces  which  had 
worked  to  suppress  and  inhibit  the  people  were  stopped. 


xii  PREFACE 

It  forever  silenced  the  rumors  of  Russia  making  a 
separate  peace  with  Germany. 

Russia  undertook  the  podvig  of  revolution ;  she  must 
now  add  to  that  burden  by  sternly  facing  the  reali- 
ties of  reconstruction  and  further  war.  Let  us  hope 
that  the  hands  which  guide  her  destinies  will  be 
strengthened  by  the  patience  and  sacrifice  of  the  people 
that  they  be  counseled  with  wisdom  and  their  acts 
tempered  with  justice  for  all. 

What  Russia  has  been  makes  her  what  she  is  to- 
day. We  cannot  understand  the  Russia  to  come  until 
we  understand  what  she  has  been.  Read  in  that  light, 
the  pages  of  this  book  should  have  a  far-reaching  influ- 
ence on  those  who  would  understand  Russia  and  the 
Russian  people. 

I  am  indebted  for  the  rights  of  reproduction  of  cer- 
tain material  to  the  editors  of  Travel^  The  Catholic 
World,  The  Bellman,  The  Ecclesiastical  Review  and 
several  other  magazines.  I  also  wish  to  take  this  op- 
portunity to  express  my  appreciation  of  the  kindly 
counsel  and  criticism  proffered  by  Bassett  Digby,  Esq., 
of  Petrograd  and  a  host  of  other  friends,  Russian  and 
American,  both  here  and  abroad,  who  have  been  so 
good  as  to  lend  a  hand  with  this  book.  R.  W. 

New  York  City, 

March  20,  1917. 


THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 


THE  RUSSIANS:  AN 
INTERPRETATION 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   STRENGTH    OF  THE   ADOLESCENT 

RUSSIA  is  a  region  of  extreme  cold,  where  peo- 
ple are  jailed  for  speaking  their  own  minds. 
"It    is    governed    by    a    bureaucracy    that 
grinds  down  the  people. 

"Its  population  is  largely  composed  of  anarchists  and 
Jews." 


Take  any  average  American — the  proverbial  man- 
in- the-street  type — propose  the  subject  of  Russia,  and 
you  will  be  edified  by  hearing  something  very  like 
these  observations  on  that  country. 

And,  very  likely,  there  will  be  a  half-apologetic  con- 
clusion,— "Well,  we  Americans  don't  know  much  about 
Russia,  anyhow." 

The  last  statement  is  unquestionably  sincere.  Amer- 
icans, as  a  rule,  do  know  little  about  Russia,  despite 
the  fact  that  the  Russian  flag  flies  over  one-sixth  of 

1 


2        THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

the  earth's  land  surface,  that  182,000,000  souls,  repre- 
senting sixty-four  racial  and  tribal  divisions,  speaking 
150-odd  tongues,  hold  allegiance  to  the  Tsar;  despite 
the  fact  that  the  individual,  as  an  individual,  is  freer 
there  than  in  any  nation  under  the  sun — circumstances 
which  in  any  other  instance  would  have  long  since  bred 
intimacy  between  America  and  Russia. 

Our  prejudices  are  accountable.  Russia  has  been 
geographically  isolated.  Having  an  agricultural  popu- 
lation and  lacking  an  open  port  the  whole  year 
through,  its  people  have  only  recently  crossed  the  ocean 
to  our  shores.  It  is  logical  that  an  agricultural  people 
should  be  less  widely  known  than  seafaring  nations. 

Even  when  discerned,  Russia's  national  characteris- 
tics are  not  readily  understood.  Of  the  various  na- 
tional souls  in  Europe,  none  is  more  difficult  to  analyze 
than  the  Russian,  none  more  elusive,  none  so  per- 
sistently defiant  to  superficial  examination  and  sketchy 
generalizations. 

Moreover,  since  the  late  '8o's  the  world  would  seem 
to  have  been  subjected  to  a  campaign  waged  against 
the  publication  of  the  truth  about  Russia.  We  have 
heard  little  about  that  country  save  its  evils.  Time 
and  again  has  she  been  deliberately  misrepresented, 
misinterpreted  and  maligned.  Her  weaknesses  have 
proved  fat  carrion  for  ghoulish  pens  to  batten  on. 
Some,  unfortunately,  have  believed  all  the  evil  told 
of  her.  Some  question.  For  most  of  us  she  remains 
an  empire  of  enigmas. 

With  all  this  weight  of  prejudice  and  confusion  it 
is  surprising  how  our  admiration  is  quickened  when  the 
real  facts  of  Russia  are  presented  to  us.  When  we  wit- 
ness the  artistic  fact  of  the  Russian  ballet,  no  words 


THE  STRENGTH  OF  THE  ADOLESCENT        3 

can  express  our  enthusiasm.  When  we  listen  to  the 
musical  fact  of  Rimsky-Korsakov,  Tchaikovsky  and 
Arensky,  we  are  speechless  with  wonder.  When  we 
read  the  literary  fact  of  Gogol,  Gorky,  Dostoevsky, 
Turgenev  and  Tolstoy,  we  are  held  a-marveling. 

But  the  national  contradictions  are  puzzling.  One 
day  we  read  of  unbelievable  fortunes  rolling  into  the 
coffers  of  the  State  through  a  liquor  monopoly;  the 
next  that  it  has  been  given  up  and  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  vodka  prohibited  throughout  the  Empire — a 
nation  gone  dry  by  the  stroke  of  a  pen  I  One  day  we 
read  of  exiles  being  scattered  to  the  four  corners  of  the 
globe ;  the  next,  of  those  exiles  coming  home  to  die  for 
the  very  government  against  which  they  conspired. 
These  paradoxes  are  only  a  handful  of  the  multitudi- 
nous phases  of  the  real  Russ.  Surely  then,  until  we 
know  the  truth  about  the  Russian  people,  it  were  folly 
to  judge  them  or  hope  to  understand  their  artistic  crea- 
tions and  their  future  place  in  the  great  pageant  of  the 
nations. 

The  average  American  mentioned  above  is  right — so 
far  as  he  goes.  Russia  is  an  extremely  cold  region, 
especially  the  arctic  sections,  just  as  Canada  is  an  ex- 
tremely cold  place  in  winter. 

True,  intellectual  people  by  the  thousands  have  been 
jailed  for  speaking  their  own  minds,  when  they  spoke 
them  to  what  the  authorities  considered  the  detriment 
of  the  people  at  large.  To  put  it  in  terms  which  will 
be  developed  later  on,  until  the  upheaval  of  March 
1917  revolution  has  never  been  the  sincere  expression 
of  the  entirety  of  the  Russian  peoples. 

True,  much  of  the  Government  is  in  the  hands  of 
bureaucrats,  just  as  is  the  government  of  England  and 


4         THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

of  the  United  States.  Any  governing  power  that  is 
not  actually  vested  in  the  people — despite  what  a  con- 
stitution may  say — is  a  government  of  bureaucrats, 
whether  they  represent  the  Crown  or  Big  Business. 

But  the  great  misconception  of  Russia  comes  about 
through  judging  her  by  the  length  of  her  years  and  not 
by  her  capacities.  So  much  of  Russia's  life  has  been 
mingled  with  the  East,  so  much  of  it  spent  as  a  buffer 
against  the  East,  that  if  we  judge  her  according  to 
Western  standards,  she  is  just  now  coming  of  age. 
Russia  is  the  adolescent  of  the  world. 


As  soon  as  one  crosses  the  frontier  into  Russia  he 
feels  the  need  for  making  clear  distinctions.  That  the 
country  is  not  as  he  conceived  it,  is  the  first  fact  to 
impress  him.  What  he  has  heard  about  Russia  and 
what  it  actually  is  may  be  as  wide  apart  as  the  poles. 
For  one  who  is  studying  Russia  from  a  distance,  the 
necessity  for  making  these  distinctions  is  even  more 
important. 

The  first  and  perhaps  most  fundamental  distinctions 
that  have  to  be  made  are  between  Russia  and  the  Rus- 
sian Government;  between  the  class  that  governs  and 
the  classes  that  are  governed ;  between  the  faith  that  is 
taught  and  the  faith  that  is  believed,  corresponding  to 
the  three  great  components  of  any  nation  that  has  an 
autocratic  form  of  government  and  a  state  religion. 

Unfortunately,  many  of  us,  when  we  think  of  Rus- 
sia, think  of  it  in  the  light  of  the  reputation  its  govern- 
ment bears.  Because  the  people  have  suffered  lamenta- 
bly in  political  darkness,  we  have  a  feeling  that  the 


THE  STRENGTH  OF  THE  ADOLESCENT        5 

land  must  also  be  shrouded  in  darkness.  Quite  the  re- 
verse is  the  case.  No  nation,  save  the  United  States,  is 
so  economically  self-sustaining  or  possesses  such  a 
wealth  of  diversified  scenery  and  manifold  natural  re- 
sources. From  arctic  Archangel  to  the  sunny  Crimea, 
from  Teutonic  Poland  to  the  orientalized  Pacific  mari- 
time provinces — a  gigantic  expanse  of  over  eight  and  a 
half  million  square  miles — endless  beauty  and  the  evi- 
dences of  incalculable  natural  wealth  greet  the  eye. 

You  may  go  among  men  who  have  been  exiled  and 
have  fled  to  foreign  countries,  you  may  talk  to  the 
humble  folk  who  have  come  to  seek  wealth  in  our  cities, 
and  with  one  accord  they  will  tell  you  that,  though  they 
hold  bitter  grievance  against  the  Russian  Government, 
they  still  love  the  Russland  and  hope  some  day  to  re- 
turn. Nor  have  I  ever  found  the  traveler  who  has  vis- 
ited Russia  and  not  promised  himself  to  go  back.  There 
is  a  haunting  quality  about  its  scenery,  there  is  an  en- 
livening stimulus  to  be  caught  from  the  singular  life 
of  the  people,  from  the  admixture  of  nationalities  and 
tongues,  from  the  varied  customs  and  faiths  that  the 
frontiers  of  the  empire  hold. 

Certainly  confusion  arises  in  considering  the  rela- 
tion between  the  Russian  and  his  Government.  In 
matters  of  politics  the  Russian  citizen  is  governed 
and  his  voice  and  vote  count  for  little.  In  matters 
of  morals  and  even  in  matters  of  faith  he  is  prac- 
tically left  to  govern  himself.  He  may  be  intoxi- 
cated five  nights  out  of  the  week,  or  what  the  Rus- 
sians call  a  "bitter"  drunkard,  and  no  one  will 
say  aught  save  that  he  is  a  fool  and  to  be  pitied.  But 
let  him  talk  recalcitrant  politics  for  one  night  in  the 
week,  and  the  gendarmerie  will  soon  attend  to  his  case. 


6         THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

So  then,  such  problems  as  the  Finn  and  the  Pole — 
the  hyphenates  of  Russia — are  not  his  problems,  nor  is 
he  concerned  with  the  Jew,  save  as  the  Jew  touches  his 
life  to  make  it  difficult. 

II 

Between  social  strata  the  differences  are  clearly  de- 
fined. The  population  can  be  cross-sectioned  much  as 
can  a  layer  cake — and  the  layers  are  many.  Whereas 
previous  to  the  middle  of  the  20th  Century  there  were 
but  two  classes — the  nobles  who  owned  the  land  and 
the  moujiks  who  farmed  it — there  have  been  evolved 
other  social  classes  in  the  recent  course  of  the  economic 
and  political  development  of  the  country.  For  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  Russian  law  recognizes  the  following 
classes: — nobility,  clergy,  privileged  burgesses,  mer- 
chants, burgesses,  partisans  and  peasants. 

At  the  head  of  the  social  ladder  below  the  royal  fam- 
ily stands  the  nobility.  This  body  is  composed  of  two 
classes,  hereditary  nobles  and  life  or  personal  nobles. 
The  privilege  of  personal  nobility,  which  amounts  to 
little  more  than  a  title,  accompanies  certain  ranks  in 
the  administrative  service,  which  is  graded,  after  the 
oriental  manner,  into  tchins.  Hereditary  nobility  is 
also  automatically  attained  on  becoming  a  Councilor 
of  State  in  the  Civil  Service,  a  colonel  in  the  army  and 
a  senior  captain  in  the  navy;  it  can  also  be  conferred 
by  the  Emperor.  Certain  government  offices  are  re- 
served for  the  nobility  and  they  enjoy  a  preponderance 
of  seats  in  the  Zemstvos  in  addition  to  other  privileges ; 
the  Marechal  de  Noblesse  in  each  administrative  dis- 
trict being  president  of  the  local  Zemstvo,  or  provin- 
cial council,  and  a  majority  of  seats  being  allotted  them 


THE  STRENGTH  OF  THE  ADOLESCENT        7 

in  the  Imperial  Council  (the  upper  legislative  house) 
and  the  Imperial  Douma  (the  lower  house). 

Since  the  nobility  numbers  some  600,000,  it  forms 
an  appreciable  nucleus,  albeit  many  of  them  are  com- 
mon stock,  merely  possessors  of  inherited  titles  that, 
in  many  instances,  mean  little  or  nothing  to-day.  Thus 
the  noble  colonel  may  dicker  with  his  equally  noble 
greengrocer  for  the  common  necessities  of  the  day. 
There  is  a  fine  democracy  about  it  all.  Noblemen  will 
be  found  doing  menial  tasks — men  and  women  with 
scarcely  enough  to  keep  body  and  soul  together,  many 
of  them,  who  for  all  their  poverty  cherish  their  honors 
and  accept  with  fine  eclat  the  petty  respect  shown  them 
by  their  fellows. 

A  decisive  majority  of  the  aristocracy,  however,  is 
influential.  Moreover  an  amazing  part  of  it  is  Teuton. 
And  thereby  hangs  the  tale  of  the  unity  of  the  Russian 
masses  in  this  war,  for  the  class  that  has  been  influential 
in  the  past  300  years  has  gradually  been  becoming 
either  Teuton  or  Teutonized,  and  from  the  Teuton  did 
Russia  learn  many  lessons  of  government  that,  misap- 
plied, have  brought  about  regrettable  wrongs.  Much 
of  the  corruption  in  the  Russian  Government  to-day 
— commonly  known  as  "the  dark  forces" — bears  the 
stamp,  "Made  in  Germany." 

The  clergy  as  a  class  do  not  dominate  to-day  in  the 
manner  of  previous  generations,  and  comment  on  them, 
apart  from  mention  in  this  survey  as  a  class  that  rep- 
resents one  arm  of  the  Government,  will  be  reserved 
for  a  later  chapter.^ 

Although  not  legally  recognized  as  a  class,  the 
higher  intelligentia  form  a  sufiiciently  strong  body  to 

*  See  Chapter  V. 


8         THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

place  directly  beneath  the  nobility.  They  are  not  al- 
ways people  of  material  wealth,  yet  they  are  usually 
possessed  of  a  wealth  of  learning  and  appreciation. 
Often  they  are  traveled  folk,  well  read,  cultured,  firm 
believers  in  the  Orthodox  Faith,  and  generally  staunch 
supporters  of  the  existing  order.  Among  them,  of 
course,  are  vigorous  recalcitrants,  but  the  majority  of 
the  higher  intelligentia  may  be  said  to  view  the  present 
sociological  and  governmental  situations  in  a  calm  and 
philosophic  frame  of  mind,  strong  in  the  belief  that 
when  the  time  is  ripe  they  will  be  remedied.  Without 
question,  they  are  the  most  stable  type  of  Russian  peo- 
ple, patriotic,  faithful,  believing,  living  in  the  light 
of  modern  thought — not  in  the  darkness  as  does  the 
peasant — and  still  sincere  upholders  of  Russian  ideals. 

In  this  class  fall  many  of  the  urban  proletariat,  fam- 
ilies that  have  become  well-to-do  and  influential  with 
the  growth  of  the  cities  and  the  increase  of  industries. 

Below  the  intelligentia  comes  the  small  bourgeoisie, 
with  all  the  weaknesses  of  a  smug,  half-learned  middle 
class. 

The  rest  of  the  populace — 140,000,000,  or  80%  in 
all — is  moujik^  peasant. 

The  cultured  Russian  is  practically  the  same  as  any 
cultured  person  the  world  over.^  The  fact  that  the 
Dean  of  the  University  of  Moscow  drinks  his  tea  from 
a  tumbler,  and  the  president  of  Harvard  drinks  his 

*  Unquestionably  there  are  superficial  differences.  There  was  the 
young  married  couple,  straight  from  Petrograd  on  a  honeymoon,  who 
came  to  call  the  other  evening.  Both  were  of  the  higher  intelligentia. 
They  had  been  entertained  at  one  of  the  fashionable  New  York  wom- 
en's clubs.  She  was  visibly  shocked.  "You  call  American  women 
cultured!"  she  exclaimed.  "I  saw  them  there,  sitting  with  their  legs 
crossed  like  men,  reading  newspapers,  a  cigarette  between  their  lips 
and  a  high-ball  at  their  elbows."  This  from  a  girl  whose  women- 
folk are  supposed  to  be  the  most  inveterate  smokers  in  the  world! 


THE  STRENGTH  OF  THE  ADOLESCENT        9 

from  a  cup,  makes  little  or  no  difference  in  their  concep- 
tions of  justice,  psychology,  art  or  any  of  those  great 
subjects  in  which  cultured  people  are  vitally  interested. 
But  the  peasantry  of  Russia  stands  no  such  comparison 
with  a  like  class  in  other  lands. 

Compared  with  the  peasant  of  lands  under  the  West- 
em  influence,  the  ??ioujik  makes  a  very  poor  showing. 
His  level  of  literacy  is  low,  his  capacity  for  drink 
enormous,  and  his  innate  laziness  amazing.^  Com- 
pared with  the  peasant  of  those  nations  in  which  the 
Oriental  influence  predominates,  the  moujik  is  a  su- 
perior being.  Thus  he  may  live  in  a  hovel,  but  it  will 
be  a  fairly  clean  hovel.  His  clothes  may  be  dirty,  but 
his  body  will  be  washed.  The  weekly  bath  is  almost 
part  of  the  peasant's  religion.  He  loves  disorder  just 
as  the  West  loves  order  and  efficiency.  It  is  an  in- 
justice to  judge  him  by  terms  foreign  to  him.  Take 
him  as  he  is,  and  few  people  afford  a  more  illuminating 
study.  For  in  that  great  horde  of  140,000,000  you 
find  the  real  Russ,  unspoiled  as  yet  by  Western  customs 
and  Western  philosophy.  His  problems  are  the  prob- 
lems of  Russia.  His  genius  is  the  soul  of  Russia.  His 
is  the  class  best  to  know,  to  understand  and  to  love, 
for  in  him  lies  the  strength  of  adolescent  Russia. 

^  While  the  war  has  changed  for  the  better  many  of  these  condi- 
tions— mainly  the  drunkenness — class  habits  are  not  to  be  overcome 
in  so  short  a  time  as  a  few  years.  During  1913  drunkenness  in- 
creased 12^%  and  the  evil  effects  were  felt  throughout  the  empire. 
Since  the  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  liquors,  marks  of  prosperity-  and 
betterment  have  been  evident  in  a  dozen  different  ways — in  the  in- 
crease of  savings  deposits,  in  the  decrease  of  railroad  accidents  and 
insanity  in  the  army  and  in  crime.  The  Russian  people  find  tem- 
perance a  great  blessing  on  the  whole.  If  the  war  has  done  nothing 
else,  it  has  brought  Russia  this  incalculable  boon. 


10       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

III 

There  are  two  genuinely  great  Russian  cities,  Mos- 
cow and  Kiev.  Petrograd  is  only  a  French  city  with 
a  Russian  veneer  and — until  the  opening  of  the  war — 
a  German  populace.  But  Moscow  and  Kiev  are  pure 
Russ. 

Enter  the  church  of  St.  Vladimir  at  Kiev,  and  you 
touch  the  birthplace  ^  of  Russia's  Christianity — the 
spot  where  Vladimir  and  his  hosts  stepped  down  into 
the  waters  of  the  Dnieper  for  baptism.  Stand  within 
the  turreted  Kremlin  walls,  and  you  feel  the  heart  of 
Russia  beat,  you  behold  the  glory  of  her  dream  and  see 
the  bulwarks  of  her  strength.  For  the  strength  and 
the  vision  and  the  pulse  of  the  Russ  is  his  religion. 
Grasp  that,  and  you  have  his  secret,  you  touch  his 
intangible  genus. 

By  no  means  is  the  moujik  body  entirely  Orthodox. 
The  moujik  is  as  fecund  of  sects  as  a  Chicago  Uni- 
versity professor.  There  are,  beside  the  Raskolniks — 
the  Old  Believers — the  Mullakons,  the  Doukoboors  and 
a  host  of  others.  In  dogma  they  differ  little  from  Or- 
thodoxy, the  main  lines  of  divergence  being  in  practice. 
One,  two  or  three  generations  of  dissent  are  scarcely 
enough  to  eradicate  eight  centuries  of  dogma.  More- 
over, while  there  may  be  slight  differences  in  dogma, 
there  is  also  the  distinction  between  the  faith  that  the 
7noujik  is  taught  to  believe  and  the  faith  he  actually 
does  believe.  However  confusing  this  problem  of 
peasant  religion,  the  fact  that  he  is  a  religious  person  is 
the  vital  factor  both  to  the  peasant  and  to  those  who 
would  attempt  to  understand  him. 

*  An  ancient  Russian  hymn  runs,  "Kiev,  Holy  Kiev,  is  the  mother 
of  towns." 


THE  STRENGTH  OF  THE  ADOLESCENT      ii 

Untangle  the  matted  roots,  and  three  main  strands 
of  the  moujik's  religion  will  be  seen:  the  dogma  taught 
him  by  the  Church,  the  paganism  that  a  life  close  to 
the  soil  has  bred,  and  the  inherent  Orientalism  which 
has  been  brought  to  the  surface  under  economic  and  po- 
litical pressure. 

Be  he  Orthodox  or  dissenter,  the  moujik's  religion  is 
centered  not  on  the  present,  but  on  the  farther  side 
of  the  grave.  Its  symbol  is  the  Resurrection.  From 
this  present  period  of  suffering  Death  is  the  gateway 
to  Life.  The  silver  knows  the  fire  that  the  dross  may 
be  purged  from  it.  You  are  made  perfect  in  suffering, 
says  the  Russ. 

Suffering  may  be  visited  upon  you  or  it  may  be  un- 
dertaken voluntarily  as  a  podvig^  a  great  act  of  self- 
abnegation.  However  it  comes,  it  is  to  be  accepted 
with  resignation.  Some  of  it  was  visited  upon  the 
moujik;  he  was  a  serf  for  400  years,  and  in  many  pres- 
ent instances  debt  and  agrarian  evils  have  not  permitted 
him  to  rise  much  above  the  level  of  serfdom.  Some  of 
it  the  moujik  invites  and  jolly  well  deserves  for  his 
laziness,  drunkenness  and  stupidity.  Some  of  it  he 
undertakes  of  his  own  accord,  hoping  for  perfection 
thereby. 

Voluntary  and  involuntary,  this  class  suffering  has 
developed,  through  the  generations,  the  i^ioujik's  ca- 
pacity for  pity.  As  with  an  individual,  so  with  a  race ; 
suffering  evolves  a  consciousness,  an  understanding  of 


*An  amusing  story  of  the  podvig,  "The  Devil  Chase,"  was  written 
by  Nicholas  Leskov.  It  is  the  tale  of  a  rich  merchant  who  has  never 
had  any  real  reason  for  repentance,  and  "stages"  a  Bacchanalian  riot 
in  a  Moscow  restaurant  which  costs  him  a  small  fortune,  after  which, 
satisfied  that  he  has  a  thoroughly  sound  basis  for  repentance,  he  re- 
tires into  a  monastery! 


12       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

intangible  things  not  comprehended  by  those  who  seek 
conviction  by  eye  and  ear  alone. 

Pity  bred  of  suffering  has  still  another  child — the 
capacity  for  forgiveness.  Because  he  can  understand, 
the  moujik  can  forgive  even  the  worst  wrongs  against 
him.  Because  he  understands  the  beggar,  he  holds  the 
beggar  sacred — he  rouses  him  to  pity  and  charity.  Be- 
cause he,  too,  has  sinned,  he  can  condone  excesses  and 
lapses  from  virtue.  Because  he  has  known  the  chains 
of  serfdom  and  suppression,  he  pities  the  prisoner,  even 
the  murderer,  calling  him  "poor  fellow."  There  is 
nothing  Pharisaical  about  his  attitude.  With  true  hu- 
mility he  confesses  to  "these  bonds." 

Such  elements  in  the  moujik's  religion  have  fondly 
been  termed  "mystical"  by  some  writers.  I  believe  that 
here  is  a  more  tangible  explanation.  His  attitude  is 
eminently  practical,  considering  the  fact  that  he  be- 
lieves the  good  God  looks  after  his  soul  in  the  end.  His 
acceptance  of  wrongs  was  brought  about  by  the  bayonet 
and  the  knout  under  the  direction  of  the  Government 
and  the  landowners  in  the  dark  days  of  serfdom.  There 
was  nothing  for  him  to  do  but  accept.  An  Oriental 
strain  in  his  blood  quickened  his  capacity  for  resigna- 
tion. It  also  gave  him  the  view  of  Death  as  the  gate- 
way to  Life.  Besides  who  would  not  welcome  death 
after  such  a  life*?  ...  As  for  pity  and  the  capacity 
for  forgiveness,  these  are  not  virtues  restricted  to  Chris- 
tians; they  are  logical  mental  states  found  the  world 
over.  Pity,  as  William  Blake  aptly  observed,  has  a 
human  face. 

From  this  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  the  moujik  is 
a  funereal  fellow.  Far  from  it.  His  capacity  for 
laughter  rivals  his  capacity  for  vodka.    He  loves  mer- 


THE  STRENGTH  OF  THE  ADOLESCENT       13 

riment  as  he  loves  the  sun  and  the  wholesome  black 
earth.  And  in  this  love  of  sun  and  earth  lies  another 
phase  of  his  religion :  its  indisputable  paganism. 

The  same  moujik  who  lights  a  candle  in  his  ikoji 
corner  at  home  each  morning  will  sacrifice  to  the  house 
fairies,  the  domovies^  who  guard  the  hearth.  The  fish- 
erman who  nails  the  ikon  at  his  masthead  will  pour  a 
sacrifice  to  the  water  nymphs.  In  fact,  the  blessing  of 
the  water,  a  yearly  ceremony  throughout  Russia,  is 
nothing  more  than  a  relic  of  paganism  sanctioned  by 
the  Church.  At  a  tiny  Cossack  village  on  the  Amur 
in  hinter  Siberia  I  watched  this  ceremony.  It  was  a 
cold,  gray,  grim  dawn.  The  entire  village,  headed  by 
priest,  cross  and  banners,  trooped  down  to  the  river 
bank.  There  with  prayers  and  incense  the  waters  were 
duly  blessed.  And  then  the  natives,  one  by  one,  bent 
down,  worshiped  and  drank  of  the  muddy  stream. 
Some  carried  jugs  of  it  home  to  scatter  on  the  fields  that 
they  might  be  plentiful.  It  was  beautiful — and  it  was 
pagan. 

This  moujik,  then,  wears  his  Christianity  like  a  coat. 
He  is  an  instinctive  pantheist. 

At  heart  he  is  also  an  instinctive  socialist  and  an  in- 
stinctive revolutionist.  These  two  are  due  to  class 
segregation  through  the  400  years  of  serfdom  and 
since — segregation  that  has  made  him  independent  as 
a  class  and  communistic  in  self-defense.  The  Mir,  a 
communistic  system  of  self-government,  is  a  striking 
example  of  these  tendencies  which  at  once  strengthen 
and  weaken  the  tnoujik. 

As  a  result,  he  is  intensely  gregarious  and  clannish. 
I  have  noted  this  especially  in  Siberia,  whither  a  quar- 
ter of  million  settlers  go  each  year,  a  region  eminently 


14       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

suited  for  seeing  the  peasant  "on  his  own."  He  lives 
in  towns  and  hamlets.  You  do  not  find  the  solitary 
hut  far  out  in  the  wilderness  as  you  find  settlers  in  our 
West.  He  will  go  out  and  battle  for  bread  against  the 
elements,  if  he  can  battle  along  with  his  fellows — ^but 
alone,  never. 

Moreover,  to  this  day  he  fails  to  understand  the 
genuine  realities  of  the  classes  above  him  because 
he  has  never  mingled  with  them  and  because  he  has 
so  often  been  exploited  by  the  classes  that  came 
to  mingle  with  him  and  his  fellows.  Sessions  of  the 
Douma,  where  all  classes  meet,  bear  abundant  witness 
both  to  this  gregarious  habit  of  the  moufik  and  to  the 
governmental  class  distinctions  mentioned  above.  In 
addition,  the  Government  has  seen  to  it  that  the  mou]ik 
stays  in  his  class. 

Some  fine  results  have  developed  from  this  class 
segregation;  for  example,  the  handicraft  work  of  the 
peasants,  the  Kustarny,  as  they  are  known.  Russia 
proper — not  including  Finland  and  Poland — has  a 
total  of  not  more  than  2,500,000  factory  hands,  but  its 
handicraft  workers,  living  in  villages,  devoting  their 
time  to  the  manufacture  of  all  manner  of  peasant 
wares,  totals  8,000,000  to  10,000,000.  Their  products 
range  all  the  way  from  bark  sandals  to  jeweliy,  from 
cart  wheels  to  ikons.  With  primitive  tools  and  in 
primitive  fashion,  these  ten  millions  produce  an  enor- 
mous yearly  output  of  articles  of  great  beauty  and  util- 
ity. Upon  their  devoted  labors  the  Government  has 
leaned  heavily  during  the  war.  The  workers  are  gen- 
erally divided  into  bands  or  artels,  sharing  expenses 
and  profits  equally,  a  purely  communistic  arrangement 


THE  STRENGTH  OF  THE  ADOLESCENT       15 

that  has  made  great  numbers  of  the  peasants  eco- 
nomically independent. 

These  generations  of  suppression  and  class  segrega- 
tion have  also  bred  in  the  people  the  soul  of  patience, 
and  if  you  would  understand  the  moujik  in  revolt,  you 
must  first  understand  the  wrath  of  the  patient  man. 
Proverbially,  it  is  a  thing  to  be  feared.  It  accumulates 
through  long  impositions  and  wrongs.  Then  suddenly 
it  bursts  forth  with  hideous  anger. 

Much  has  been  written  on  the  woes  of  the  peasants, 
but  as  I  went  among  them  I  began  to  feel  that  they 
would  resent  the  sort  of  sympathy  we  Americans  are 
apt  to  shower  on  them.  Our  Semitic-owned  press  has 
kept  us  sufficiently  informed  on  all  the  injustice  borne 
by  the  peasant,  although  it  has  been  singularly  neglect- 
ful of  the  peasant's  standpoint  and  position  in  it  all. 
We  have  been  given  the  doleful  picture  of  a  human 
personification  of  "What's  the  use"?"  being  beaten, 
robbed  and  starved.  Much  of  this  picture  is  an  ex- 
aggeration. 

Ask  the  peasant  what  he  wants  socially,  economically 
and  educationally,  and  he  will  talk  much  in  the  man- 
ner of  a  child  about  to  be  turned  loose  in  a  candy  shop. 
Leaders  of  movements  have  gone  among  the  people 
trying  to  formulate  for  them  their  woes,  but  when  the 
moujik  has  been  given  an  opportunity  for  expressing 
his  methods  for  alleviating  those  woes,  his  capacity  has 
been  about  that  of  the  child's  before  he  starts  to  sample 
the  candy.  The  story  of  the  first  and  second  Doumas 
verifies  this  comparison.  Peasant  leaders  came  to 
Petrograd  with  a  program  of  refonns  that,  had  it  been 
adopted,  no  nation  under  the  sun  could  have  sup- 
ported.   The  program  was  tabled,  and  the  attitude  of 


i6       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

the  peasant  was  a  shrug,  ''NiechevoF' — "What's  the 
use!"  He  didn't  care  anything  for  the  candy,  after 
all.  That,  of  course,  is  another  expression  of  the  pa- 
tient man's  wrath;  the  man  who  nurses  his  woes, 
strikes  a  quick  blow,  and  is  all  over  it  in  the  next  min- 
ute. The  peasant  may  not  be  entirely  over  it,  but  he 
has  lost  interest.  In  the  elections  for  the  third  Douma 
the  gendarmerie  had  fairly  to  drive  the  people  to  the 
polls. 

It  is  jften  asked,  "Why  have  not  popular  revolts 
succeeded*?"  The  answer  is  that  rarely  in  Russian 
history  has  there  been  anything  approaching  a  unity 
of  desire  in  the  masses.  Moreover,  at  no  time  has  there 
been  raised  up  a  leader — save  he  came  from  a  class 
above — who  has  been  strong  enough  for  the  task.  Such 
a  leader  is  appearing.  His  name  is  Commerce.  When 
he  grows  big  enough  the  moujik  will  know  freedom. 

However  unfair  it  may  seem  and  however  much  it 
may  hurt,  the  hand  of  the  bureaucracy  is  the  only  guide 
whereby  the  Government  has  kept  the  varied  elements 
and  peoples  in  line.  That  discipline  has  established 
and  maintained  a  great  national  identity,  and  has 
brought  into  being  the  Russian  power  of  assimilation 
which,  as  a  nation,  is  the  Russian  people's  greatest 
characteristic. 

Russian  history  is  quite  comparable  to  the  psychol- 
ogy of  adolescence.  For  the  Russians  are  not  among 
the  oldest  peoples  in  Europe  as  we  figure  civili- 
zation, but  among  the  youngest  in  development  and 
characteristics.  Their  growth  has  been  retarded  be- 
cause, for  centuries,  they  stood  as  the  watcher  at  the 
gate,  repelling  Asiatic  hordes  and  suffering  their  cities 
to  be  pillaged  and  their  fair  land  laid  waste,  while  the 


THE  STRENGTH  OF  THE  ADOLESCENT      17 

rest  of  Europe  was  passing  through  those  stages  which 
brought  it  to  its  high  state  before  the  present  war. 

Two  things  are  clear  in  this  adolescent  moujik's 
mind,  however.  They  are  summed  up  in  the  native 
proverb :  "Our  souls  are  God's ;  our  bodies,  the  Tsar's." 
For,  despite  all  his  experiences,  the  moujik  bears  the 
Tsar  no  ill-will.  He  may  hate  with  destructive  hatred 
the  Tsar's  agents,  but  the  person  and  station  of  the 
Emperor  is  always  to  him  that  of  the  Lord's  anointed. 


IV 

Of  all  the  Tsar's  regiments  it  is  said  that  the 
staunchest,  the  bravest,  the  clearest-headed  are  those 
from  Siberia.  The  characteristics  of  these  Siberian 
troops,  as  brought  out  in  the  war,  serve  for  an  illumi- 
nating commentary  on  what  the  average  moujik 
can  make  of  himself  when  given  a  sane  degree  of 
liberty. 

In  Siberia  life  is  much  more  free  than  in  European 
Russia,  because  life  is  much  more  scattered.  Save  in 
the  cities  there  is  not  a  very  rigid  police  surveillance. 
Men  and  women  have  a  chance  to  hew  out  their  des- 
tinies of  brain  and  brawn :  brawn,  because  the  life  chal- 
lenges them  to  work;  brain,  because  the  opportunities 
for  schooling  are  not  so  few  and  far  between  as  one 
might  be  led  to  expect.  The  average  rural  school  in 
Siberia  suffers  little  by  comparison  with  the  rural 
schools  in  our  thinly  populated  Western  states.  The 
city  schools  and  private  academies  are  well  equipped 
and  well  attended.  Tomsk  University  and  the  Tech- 
nology Institute  average  an  agregate  attendance  of 
about  two  thousand — not  a  bad  figure  for  an  agricul- 


i8       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

tural  population  scattered  over  an  area  larger  than 
the  United  States. 

It  is  in  Siberia  that  the  ftioujik  meets  the  ultimate 
test  of  his  soul  stuff.  There  he  must  fight  not  alone 
for  the  mere  essentials  of  food  and  drink  and  clothes 
and  shelter,  but  in  the  midst  of  a  native  Oriental 
and  semi-barbaric  life,  must  keep  the  faith  and  preserve 
the  national  identity.  Few  settlers  indeed  are  swal- 
lowed up  by  the  environment.  The  bulk  of  them  re- 
main Orthodox  and  Russian.  In  fact,  so  great  has 
grown  the  immigrant  population  that  the  native  tribes 
are  being  fast  Russified. 


Despite  the  valor  of  these  progressive  moujik  troops 
— and  a  host  of  others — the  Russian  arms  have  suffered 
violence.  The  Russian  soul  has  met  defeat  in  this  war. 
Yet  it  is  in  defeat  that  the  Russian  genius  invariably 
finds  victory. 

For  a  matter  of  racial  and  spiritual  fact,  reforms 
come  about  after  an  interior  awakening  aroused  by  fear 
of  exterior  attack  and  influence,  and  an  appreciation  of 
racial  strength.  There  is  the  soul  of  France.  Up  to 
the  present  many  have  looked  upon  it  as  a  tinsel  thing, 
something  to  make  cafes  bright  and  vin  ordinaire  popu- 
lar. In  the  fire  of  defeat  and  discouraging  delay  has 
been  evolved  a  different  soul — a  soul  noble  and  strong 
and  unfailing.  Defeat  has  transfused  some  of  the  same 
elements  into  the  Russian  soul. 

Four  distinct  times,  by  the  reverse  of  her  arms,  has 
the  great  Slav  Empire  rid  herself  of  lamentable  evils 
"to  march  on  in  the  slow  pageant  of  the  race."  The 
defeat  of  Peter  the  Great  at  Narva  by  Charles  II  of 


THE  STRENGTH  OF  THE  ADOLESCENT      19 

Sweden  brought  about  the  reorganization  of  Russian 
society.  The  Napoleonic  invasion  gave  Russia  a  place 
in  European  diplomacy.  The  Crimean  defeat  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs  and  the  build- 
ing up  of  the  far-flung  Asiatic  provinces.  The  defeat 
in  South  Manchuria  was  followed  by  the  revolution  of 
1905  and  the  endowment  of  the  masses  with  the 
semblance  of  a  representative  government.  The  phoe- 
nix might  well  replace  the  double  eagle  as  the  symbol 
of  Russia,  for  the  power  of  the  Russian  people  lies — 
as  lies  the  faith  of  the  moujik — in  the  Resurrection,  in 
the  ability  to  find  Life  after  Death,  and  victory  after 
defeat. 

The  greatest  victory  of  the  Russian  people  thus  far 
has  been  their  defeat  at  Teutonic  hands.  It  has  purged 
their  soul,  tried  it  as  silver  is  tried.  What  form  the 
victory  will  take  eventually,  no  one  can  foretell  with 
any  degree  of  exactness:  perhaps  more  freedom  of 
speech;  perhaps  more  authority  in  self-government; 
perhaps  a  stable  development  of  the  great  natural  re- 
sources by  the  Russian  people  themselves;  perhaps  a 
combination  of  all  these  things.  Whatever  the  victory, 
it  will  be  a  victory  for  the  people.  It  will  mean  that 
the  mass  of  the  people,  the  moujiks,  will  be  becoming 
more  and  more  prepared  for  a  step  upward.  And  in 
that  day  the  Russ  will  be  even  more  worth  understand- 


ing. 


CHAPTER  II 

WHAT  IS  A  RUSSIAN? 

MY  neighbor  in  the  rear  spoke  with  an  irre- 
proachable Petrograd  accent.  He  also  drank 
vodka  and  trafficked  in  munitions.  So,  one 
day,  I  asked  him  if  he  weren't  Russian. 

"Russian?  Am  I  Russian?"  He  seemed  quite  sur- 
prised. "Certainly  I  am  Russian.  My  grandfather 
was  a  Swede  and  my  grandmother  was  a  Tartar.  .  .  . 
And  I  am  Russian." 

This  conversation  happened  in  New  York.  I  have 
had  it  happen  a  dozen  times  in  Russia.  For  Napoleon 
was  right — so  far  as  he  went.  You  do  find  the  Tartar 
when  you  scratch  the  Russ.  But  Napoleon  went  no 
farther  than  Moscow.  Penetrate  to  the  outer  fringes 
of  the  empire,  and  there  is  a  great  deal  more  to  the 
Russ  than  the  Tartar;  in  fact,  the  farther  one  goes 
into  Russia,  the  more  he  becomes  snarled  in  the  tangled 
race  roots. 

Students  have  striven  in  vain  to  find  the  pure  Russ. 
There  is  no  such  person  to-day.  The  Russ  is  as  his 
nation,  and  Russia  is  neither  the  most  western  of  East- 
ern nations  nor  the  most  eastern  of  Western  nations. 
She  is  a  mingling  of  the  two.  She  is  a  gigantic  mael- 
strom. 

The  question  of  "What  is  a  Russian?"  can  be  an- 
swered only  by  tracing  the  various  currents  in  this 

20 


WHAT  IS  A  RUSSIAN?  21 

maelstrom  back  to  their  sources.  This  necessitates 
"tunking"  the  dust  off  some  volumes  of  history,  but 
the  process  may  prove  illuminating  and,  at  times, 
mildly  diverting. 


Since  historians  have  such  varied  and  contradictory 
theories  on  the  original  sources  of  the  Slavs — save  that 
they  came  from  Asia  in  the  dim  past  of  the  first  tribal 
migration  westward — it  were  best  to  pick  them  up  in 
the  region  where  record  first  finds  them — in  the  Car- 
pathians, in  the  snow-choked  mountain  fastnesses  where 
the  troops  of  Nicholas  and  Franz  Josef  battled  for 
supremacy. 

A  marauding  band,  these  Slavs  had  their  swarming 
nests  there,  and  went  off  at  intervals  to  take  their  toll 
of  the  countryside,  penetrating  at  times  the  eastern 
limits  of  the  Roman  Empire.  By  the  6th  Century 
they  had  managed  to  make  a  fairly  fearsome  name  for 
themselves.  But  this  was  not  to  continue.  In  the 
course  of  time,  internecine  strife  and  attacks  by  other 
tribesmen — the  Avars  mostly — robbed  them  of  their 
power.  They  were  split  into  two  groups :  the  Western 
Slavs,  which  comprised  the  progenitors  of  the  Mora- 
vians, Czechs,  Poles  and  Pomeranians;  and  the  Eastern 
Slavs,  which  included  the  forefathers  of  the  Croats, 
Serbs  and  Ruthenians.  The  former  drifted  north,  but 
the  latter  migrated,  under  attack  and  under  the  lure 
of  a  more  kindly  climate,  to  the  valley  of  the  Dnieper 
River,  where  they  fell  into  trading  in  the  products  of 
the  forest — wax,  honey  and  furs.^ 

This  is  the  most  plausible  of  three  theories  concerning  the  origin 
of  the  progenitors  of  the  Russian  Slavs.  Early  Russian  chroniclers 
hold   quite    the    opposite   view.     The   German    historian,   A.    V.   von 


22       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

The  land  between  the  Dnieper  and  the  Don  was  a 
thick  forest.  In  this  they  made  clearings  and  built  up 
their  goroditscha  or  fortified  house-yards.  Clusters  of 
these  goroditscha  formed  the  nucleus  of  gorods,  towns. 
This  word  gorod  is  still  preserved  in  the  names  of  many 
Russian  towns  and  cities.  Thus,  Novgorod,  the  new 
city;  Petrograd,  the  city  of  Peter;  Tsargrad,  as  Con- 
stantinople was  known  in  the  old  days  and  still  is 
known  to  those  who  dream  of  supplanting  the  Crescent 
over  St.  Sophia  by  the  Cross. 

This  Dnieper  Valley,  together  with  the  valleys  of  the 
Lovat  and  the  Volkshov  and  Lakes  Ladoga  and  Illmen, 
formed  a  natural  avenue  of  commerce  between  the  Bal- 
tic and  the  Black  Sea,  between  the  Scandinavian  Penin- 
sula and  Byzantium.  By  the  time  the  Eastern  Slavs 
began  to  make  their  way  down  into  this  great  plain 
the  path  was  already  well  defined  by  caravans  passing 
southward  to  Byzantium.  The  newcomers  naturally 
took  up  the  trade  and  became  powers  in  the  land.  Their 
proclivity  for  conquest  was  only  in  abeyance,  however, 
for  as  they  grew  in  power  they  reverted  to  their  for- 
mer marauding.  Roving  bands  ravaged  the  country 
round  about  and  penetrated  eastward.  These  expedi- 
tions netted,  among  other  booty,  large  bodies  of  cap- 
tives which  were  taken  in  turn  to  Byzantium  and  sold 
as  slaves.  Here  is  the  alleged  source  of  our  word  slave ; 
not  that  the  Slavs  were  slaves  but  that  they  dealt  in 

Scholzer,  and  the  Russians,  Karamsin,  Pogodin  and  Soloviev,  con- 
tend that  primitive  tribes  of  Finns  and  Slavs  lived  in  the  Great 
Russian  Plain  prior  to  the  9th  Century,  and  that  Scandinavians  com- 
ing from  the  north  taught  them  their  first  conception  of  tribal  govern- 
ment. 

A  third  theory  is  that  the  Eastern  Slavs  dwelt  in  the  Russian  Plain 
long  before  the  Christian  Era,  that  they  had  primitive  family  unions 
from  which  were  formed  tribes  that  later  developed  tribal  unions, 
eventually  gravitating  into  the  trading  cities  of  Kiev  and  Novgorod. 


WHAT  IS  A  RUSSIAN?  23 

them;  in  fact,  by  the  end  of  the  1  ith  Century  the  Slavs 
were  the  masters  of  the  fur  and  slave  trade. 

The  government  of  the  people  at  this  time  was 
purely  tribal.  Each  tribe — and  their  name  was  legion 
— had  an  overlord  who  bore  the  title  of  Tsar.  The 
title  has  ever  since  clung  to  the  supreme  head  of  Rus- 
sia. It  was  not  held  officially  until  the  reign  of  Ivan 
III,  and  between  his  time  and  the  time  of  Peter  the 
Great  (1721)  Tsar  was  the  recognized  title.  Peter 
the  Great,  expanding  his  empire,  assumed  the  title  of 
Emperor.  The  monarch  now  bears  the  triple  title, 
Emperor  of  Russia,  Tsar  of  Poland  and  Grand  Duke 
of  Finland.  This  original  tribal  government  was 
patriarchal  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  and  the  relation 
between  the  masses  and  the  family  overlord  was  close. 
A  remnant  of  this  feeling  is  to  be  found  among  the 
masses  to-day.  They  refer  to  the  Emperor  as  the 
Tsar,  and  often  as  "Little  Father."  The  latter  title, 
however,  does  not  necessarily  imply  any  ardent 
affection,  as,  in  this  generation,  it  is  an  every-day 
diminutive. 

The  increase  of  the  Byzantine  traffic  and  the  amal- 
gamation of  the  goroditscha  into  towns  and  the  growth 
of  the  towns  into  the  great  trading  cities  marked  the 
first  period  of  these  Slavs  and  of  Russian  history.  The 
history  centers  about  Kiev,  the  chief  of  the  trading 
cities  in  the  south  and  about  Novgorod,  the  chief  city 
in  the  north — marking  the  Slav  terminals  of  the  cara- 
van traffic — and  about  the  smaller  cities  en  route, 
Pskov,  Smolensk  and  Polotsk.  The  people  who  came 
there,  mingled  and  inter-married  with  the  Eastern 
Slavs,  or  even  attacked  them,  were  the  first  currents  to 
start  swirling  in  the  maelstrom  of  the  Russian  soul. 


24       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

Two  main  currents  introduced  at  this  epoch  were 
the  Chozars  and  the  Variagians.  Their  stories  also 
serve  as  excellent  examples  of  racial  characteristics  still 
discernible  in  the  national  genus. 

About  the  same  time  that  the  Eastern  Slavs  began 
to  spread  over  the  Great  Russian  Plain,  the  steppes  of 
the  south  were  invaded  by  an  Asiatic  horde,  of  Turk- 
ish and  Arabic  origin,  known  as  the  Chozars.  Although 
a  nomadic  race  they  built  cities  in  this  steppe  region 
that  grew  so  prosperous  as  to  lure  thither  great  num- 
bers of  Arabic  and  Jewish  traders.  The  Jewish  ele- 
ment predominated;  in  fact,  its  influence  increased  so 
rapidly  that  the  Chozars  found  it  to  their  advantage  to 
adopt  Judaism.  In  the  course  of  the  8th  Century  this 
great  Jewish  body  formed  an  empire  that  controlled 
much  of  the  Baltic-Black  Sea  trade.  The  Slavic  tribes 
living  near  the  steppes  were  duly  subjugated  and  com- 
pelled to  pay  tribute.  But  the  Slavs  turned  their  sub- 
jugation to  good  account,  for,  as  conquered  people,  their 
trade  was  protected  and  they  had  to  concern  themselves 
only  with  the  trafficking.  From  the  Chozars  they 
learned  the  art  of  commerce  and  its  possibilities.  With 
almost  modem  astuteness  they  developed  their  business 
on  the  capital  of  a  competitor !  By  the  middle  of  the 
9th  Century  they  had  learned  the  art  so  well  as  to  out- 
strip their  subjugators  and  command  control  of  the 
trading  situation. 

With  the  Chozars  eliminated  from  the  situation  as 
rival  traders,  and  the  Byzantium  traffic  taking  such 
proportions  that  almost  ever)^  Slav  was  in  some  way 
concerned  with  it,  there  were  not  enough  people  avail- 
able to  guard  the  lonely  hinterland  stretches  of  the 
trade  routes  and  to  convoy  the  caravans.    For  this  pur- 


WHAT  IS  A  RUSSIAN?  25 

pose  were  then  called  in  a  number  of  non-Slavic  tribes 
— Swedes,  Norwegians,  Goths  and  Angles — known  col- 
lectively as  the  Variagians.  Mercenaries  these,  men 
with  a  price.  Given  the  task  of  policing  the  routes, 
they  soon  grew  sufficiently  powerful  to  demand  their 
own  terms.  From  wage  earners  they  became  leviers  of 
tribute,  usurpers  of  power.  They  drew  recruits  from 
the  north,  trebled  their  numbers,  dictated  their  own 
terms  and  succeeded  in  establishing  their  own  leaders 
as  princes  of  the  trading  cities.  It  was  almost  an  ex- 
act counterpart  of  what  the  Normans  did  in  Italy  in 
the  11th  Century.  The  free  trading  cities,  Kiev  and 
Novgorod,  became  Variagian  princedoms.  Rurik, 
whom  the  Russians  reckon  their  first  ruler,  was,  in  cold 
fact,  nothing  more  than  a  mercenary  leader  raised  to 
power  by  the  influence  of  his  mercenary  fellows.  Even- 
tually these  foreign  leaders  evolved  the  Boyarstvo,  an 
aristocracy  of  landowners  who  played  an  important 
role  in  Russian  history  until  the  middle  of  the  13th 
Century. 

Thus  came  two  currents — Jewish,  Arabic  and  Turk- 
ish in  the  beginning,  Swedish,  Norwegian,  Gothic  and 
Angle  later — setting  the  maelstrom  on  the  spin.  The 
latter  introduction  of  foreign  blood  also  marked  the 
beginning  of  a  practice  that  has  ever  since  been  one 
of  the  deterrents  to  Russian  progress  as  an  individual 
nation. 

Throughout  her  history  Russia  has  constantly  called 
in  alien  people  to  help  in  her  work,  to  lend  her  a  hand. 
Almost  invariably  has  the  hired  assistant  overcome  his 
employer.  Because  of  its  proximity,  Germany  has  been 
chief  contributor  of  this  assistance,  and  not  until  the 
war  was  well  under  way  did  the  mass  of  the  Russian 


26       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

people  recognize  that  what  the  Variagians  had  done 
in  the  loth  Century,  Germany  was  attempting  to  do 
in  the  2oth;  moreover,  that  she  had  well-nigh  accom- 
plished her  purpose. 

The  later  development  of  the  Variagian  invasion 
marked  the  beginning  of  still  another  Russian  national 
characteristic  discernible  to-day — the  power  of  assimi- 
lating foreign  peoples.  The  Variagian  elements  even- 
tually became  wholly  absorbed  in  the  Slavic,  just  as 
previously  had  the  Chozars  been  drawn  into  the  na- 
tional mid-stream. 

The  introduction  of  foreign  elements  by  no  means 
weaned  the  developing  Russ  nation  away  from  the 
West.  Between  the  Near  East  of  those  days  and  the 
other  European  powers  was  the  binding  cordiality  of 
mutually  advantageous  commerce,  exchange  of  art  and 
literature  and  the  kinship  of  blood.  The  Princes  of 
Kiev  were  related  to  the  rulers  of  France,  Hungary, 
Norway  and  England.  Kiev  was  rivaling  the  glory 
of  Byzantium.  Then  came  a  cleavage.  The  wedge 
was  forged  in  the  fires  of  dogma.  Russia  suddenly  ac- 
cepted Christianity. 

Previous  to  the  end  of  the  loth  Century  the  religion 
of  the  Eastern  Slavs  was  a  mixture  of  nature  and  an- 
cestor worship,  based  on  a  well-defined  mythology.  In 
988  Vladimir,  Prince  of  Kiev,  was  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity through  his  marriage  with  Anne,  sister  of  the 
Emperor  of  Greece,  and  by  royal  decree  the  people 
under  him  were  baptized  and  allied  themselves  with 
the  Christian  religion  as  interpreted  by  the  Byzantine 
Church.  Kiev,  already  commercial  and  intellectual 
center  of  Russ,  became  the  spiritual  metropolis. 

This  national  acceptance  of  Christianity  had  a  far- 


WHAT  IS  A  RUSSIAN?  27 

reaching  effect  on  both  the  people  and  the  relations  be- 
tween the  embryo  Russian  nation  and  the  rest  of  Eu- 
rope. 

As  is  observed  in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  pagan 
strain  is  still  a  vital  element  in  the  peasant's  faith,  the 
peasant's  life  close  to  the  soil  being  unquestionabl)^ 
responsible  for  it,  although  some  of  the  legends  and 
practices  still  extant  are  traceable  to  those  in  the 
mythology  of  the  ancient  Russ  and  of  the  native  tribes 
that  were  assimilated.  By  this  I  do  not  mean  to  infer 
that  the  peasant's  paganism  is  merely  an  inheritance 
from  these  early  times;  yet  fidelity  to  primitive  type 
is  a  characteristic  strong  with  the  Russian  even  to-day. 

With  Christianity  came  the  Church,  Vladimir  mak- 
ing the  spiritual  government  of  Russ  conform  to  the 
lines  of  that  in  Byzantium.  "The  State  entrusted  to 
her  jurisdiction  all  matters  and  relations  of  life  which 
sprang  directly  from  the  popular  adoption  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  while,  on  the  other  side,  the  clergy  were  guided 
in  the  regulations  of  those  matters  and  relations  by  the 
Church's  rules,  reenforced  by  authority  granted  them 
by  the  temporal  power  for  the  taking  of  such  dis- 
ciplinary and  administrative  measures  as  might  seem 
advisable  for  the  adapting  of  those  rules  to  the  exist- 
ing conditions  of  Russian  Life."  -^  Immediately  there 
began  to  develop  important  distinctions  and  definitions 
that  seriously  affected  the  life  of  the  people. 

Whereas  before  the  masses  were  guided  by  instinct 
and  inclination,  their  life  was  now  circumscribed  by 
laws  and  regulations.  Distinction  was  made  between 
crime  and  sin,  between  the  infringement  of  the  law 
of  man  and  the  law  of  God.     There  came  into  being 

*A  History  of  Russia.    By  V.  O.  Kluchevsky.     Vol.  I.    Page  172. 


28       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

the  Ordinance,  the  Church  law,  and  the  Russkaia 
Pravada,  the  law  of  the  State.  For  each  type  of  in- 
fringement special  penalties  were  set — corporal  pun- 
ishment and  fines  being  the  usual  modes.  Neither  of 
these  codes  recognized  the  validity  of  the  death  pen- 
alty; for  that  matter,  save  in  the  case  of  political  crimes 
and  "military  necessity,"  Russian  law  still  makes  no 
provision  for  the  extreme  penalty.  Laws  preserving 
the  sanctity  of  women  were  very  strict  in  the  Pravada 
and  the  Church  was  equally  strict  in  narrowing  the 
circle  of  consanguinity.  Another  outcome  of  this  ec- 
clesiastical influence  was  that  for  the  pagan  union  of 
the  clan  the  Christian  union  of  the  family  was  sub- 
stituted. 

But  even  more  far-reaching  were  the  effects  on  the 
Russian  nation.  The  bond  between  peoples  at  this 
time  was  the  bond  of  faith.  Automatically,  as  she  took 
on  Byzantine  Christianity,  did  Kiev  cut  herself  off 
from  Roman  Christianity  and  the  interests  the  Church 
of  the  West  controlled.  The  schism  was  more  than 
a  break  in  dogma,  it  was  a  break  in  standards.  By  her 
choice  Kiev  lost  caste.  She  was  no  longer  ranked  on 
a  par  with  the  nations  of  the  West,  and  to  that  rating 
is  due  much  of  the  subconscious  prejudice  against  Rus- 
sia to-day. 

II 

By  the  I2th  Century  slavery  had  assumed  vast  pro- 
portions. Kiev,  the  artistic,  industrial,  intellectual,  ad- 
ministrative and  ecclesiastical  center  of  Russ,  owed  its 
richness  of  life  to  the  labors  of  thousands  of  slaves. 
The  wealth  of  the  country  thereabouts  was  dependent 
on  slave  labor.    Through  this  system  eventually  grew 


WHAT  IS  A  RUSSIAN?  29 

up  the  great  disparity  between  classes,  between  the 
rich  merchant  and  the  slave  laborer,  between  the 
wealthy  landowner  and  the  slave  farmer.  Among  the 
ruling  classes  jealousy  of  power  and  wealth  sowed  seeds 
of  dissension.  In  the  economic  and  social  structure  of 
Kiev  appeared  those  cracks  which  presage  collapse.  The 
dissension  within  was  equaled  only  by  the  threat  of 
attack  from  without.  On  the  horizon  loomed  the 
shadow  of  the  Mongol.  Twice  already  had  the  Eastern 
Slavs  stemmed  Asiatic  invasions — the  Petchenges  in 
the  9th  and  11th  Centuries  and  the  Polovetzes  in  the 
11th  and  13th;  twice  already  had  attacking  and  con- 
spiring people — the  Chozars  and  the  Variagians — been 
absorbed.  But  now  there  was  no  such  defensive  unity 
in  the  Slav  people. 

Dissatisfaction,  coupled  with  the  fact  that  the  trade 
in  forest  products  required  an  occasional  change  of 
scene,  bred  among  the  people  the  desire  to  migrate. 
The  12th  Century  had  seen  a  steady  stream  of  settlers 
going  northward.  By  degrees  Kiev  was  depopulated. 
Dissenting  princes  moved  up  the  Oka  and  Volga  val- 
leys and  founded  rival  kingdoms.  The  city  of  Vladi- 
mir sprang  up,  and  Moscow  later  assumed  the  heritage 
of  Kiev.  The  Russian  people  split  into  small  groups 
and  the  land  was  divided  into  small  provinces,  each 
rivaling  the  other  with  a  jealousy  that  was  anything 
but  Christian,  in  fact,  at  times  heathenishly  murderous. 
In  short,  there  was  no  bond  of  ideals  or  purposes  be- 
tween the  factions  of  the  Russ  people. 

Then  came  the  debacle.  From  the  East  swept  the 
Mongol  hordes.  Once  they  were  thrown  back,  but  they 
returned  again.  Kiev  fell  and  was  reduced  to  shambles. 
The  tide  poured  on.    By  1240  Russia  was  completely 


30       THE  RUSSIANS;  AN  INTERPRETATION 

beneath  the  yoke  of  the  Mongol.  Mongol  and  Tartar 
chieftains  laid  their  destructive  hands  upon  the  po- 
litical, economic  and  social  life  of  the  people,  and  for 
200  years  Russia  suffered  the  invader. 

By  her  subjugation  Russia  placed  the  rest  of  Europe 
eternally  in  her  debt,  for  she  stemmed  the  westward 
tide  of  invasion.  Europe  was  left  to  work  out  her 
economic  and  political  destinies  unmolested.  Russia 
had  to  bide  her  time. 

Russia  has  always  bided  her  time.  Her  national  ca- 
pacity for  patience  is  superhuman.  But  with  this  pa- 
tient harmlessness  of  the  dove  there  has  always  been 
the  regenerating  wisdom  of  the  serpent.  What  the 
Eastern  Slavs  accomplished  by  their  defeat  and  sub- 
jugation to  the  Chozars  and  Variagians  in  the  9th  Cen- 
tur)^,  the  Russian  accomplished  with  the  Tartars  in  the 

13th. 

By  ingratiating  themselves  with  the  Tartar  Khans 
of  Kazan,  Astrakhan  and  the  Crimea,  as  the  Golden 
Horde  was  divided,  the  princes  of  Russia  succeeded  in 
getting  a  hand  once  more  in  the  administration  of 
affairs.  Those  who  were  fortunate  enough  to  gain  this 
favor  were  the  princes  of  Moscow,  and  through  the 
growth  of  their  power  Moscow  became  the  state  about 
which  the  Russian  Empire  was  built.  Once  this  power 
was  gained,  the  Golden  Horde  read  its  doom.  Ivan 
III  delivered  the  death  blow.  Moscovy  rose  from  the 
ashes.  The  Tartar  was  driven  out,  but  great  numbers 
stayed  and  were  assimilated.  Also  during  the  two  pre- 
ceding centuries  there  had  been  infused  into  the  Slav 
blood  a  perceptible  Tartar  strain. 

And  there  we  are,  back  once  more  to  the  Russian 
munition  agent  who  said  that  his  grandmother  was  a 


WHAT  IS  A  RUSSIAN?  31 

Tartar  and  his  grandfather  was  a  Swede,  and  he  was 
Russian. 

Ill 

There  are  three  main  ethnological  groups  in  Russia 
today — the  Great,  Little  and  White  Russians.  Each 
has  a  separate  history,  each  has  its  body  of  legends  and 
its  own  peculiar  mode  of  living;  one,  at  least,  has  its 
own  political  aspirations.  These  differences,  to  which 
the  traveler  to  Russia  must  be  accustomed,  can  be 
traced  in  large  measure  to  the  effects  of  climate  and 
environment  and  the  assimilation  of  native  tribes. 

The  migration  of  the  Kiev  malcontents  and  traders 
northward  and  the  Mongol  raids  left  the  Dnieper  Val- 
ley depopulated,  a  state  in  which  it  remained  until  the 
middle  of  the  15th  Century.  It  also  left  it  open  to 
invasion  and  annexation  by  peoples  from  the  West. 
The  latter  was  accomplished  by  a  combination  of  Poles 
and  Lithuanians. 

When  the  Tartar  tide  began  to  recede,  life  in  the 
Dnieper  Valley  assumed  once  more  its  pleasing  pros- 
pect. From  Poland  and  Galicia  came  immigrants. 
Kiev  was  rebuilt,  although  it  never  regained  its  former 
glory.  In  time  this  region,  the  Dnieper,  Dniester  and 
Bug  valleys,  began  to  be  alluded  to  as  Malaia  Roosia, 
Little  Russia,  otherwise  the  Ukraine  or  border.  As  a 
separate  province  it  existed  until  its  peoples  and  terri- 
tories were  conquered  by  Ivan  the  Terrible  and  consoli- 
dated into  the  Greater  Moscovy. 

Little  Russia  now  comprises  the  three  governments 
of  Tchennigoff,  Poltava  and  Kharkoff.  It  is  a  region 
generously  endowed  by  Nature,  where  "everything 
breathes  of  plenty,  where  the  rivers  flow  brighter  than 


32       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

silver,  where  the  gentle  steppe  winds  rustle  the  grasses 
and  the  farm  buildings  are  lost  in  the  cherry  groves." 
The  population  totals  over  26.6%  of  the  whole  em- 
pire, and  the  density  is  greater  there  than  in  any  other 
part.  In  the  blood  of  the  people  are  Turkish  and  Iran- 
ian strains,  some  Lithuanian  and  some  Pole. 

The  Little  Russian  is  brown-haired,  tall  and  well 
built.  His  dialect,  distinct  from  that  of  Great  Russia, 
contains  many  Polish  words,  and  is  the  nearest  ap- 
proach to-day  to  the  original  Slav  tongue.  While  a 
faithful  citizen  of  the  Empire  and  a  faithful  Ortho- 
dox believer  in  the  main,  the  Little  Russian  is  inde- 
pendent and  might,  had  he  energy  enough,  be  interested 
in  the  propaganda  Austria  has  long  been  engineering 
for  the  revolt  of  the  Ukraine  against  the  Empire. 

The  discontent  of  the  Ukraine  is  derived  from  lin- 
guistic rather  than  political  causes.  The  Russian  Gov- 
ernment has  forbidden  the  teaching  of  the  Ukrainian 
tongue  in  the  public  schools — ^just  as  Germany  has  for- 
bidden the  teaching  of  Polish  in  her  Polish  provinces — 
and  as  the  Little  Russians  possess  this  ancient  and  dis- 
tinct dialect  and  a  body  of  literature  of  their  own, 
there  is  just  reason  for  their  wishing  to  preserve  it. 
Its  suppression  is  a  very  short-sighted  measure  on  the 
part  of  the  Government.  Naturally  the  enemies  of 
Russia  have  taken  advantage  of  this  administrative 
measure.  During  the  present  war  the  Ukrainian  pris- 
oners have  been  kept  segregated  from  the  other  Rus- 
sian prisoners  in  camps  in  Baden,  treated  with  more 
consideration  than  the  others,  and  made  to  feel  that 
they  had  bitter  grievance  against  their  Government. 
Austria,  in  her  efforts  to  alienate  the  fidelity  of  the 


WHAT  IS  A  RUSSIAN?  33 

Ukrainians  is  only  pursuing  her  usual  policy  of  "Di- 
vide and  Rule." 

The  other  tide  of  emigrants  that  started  from  the 
Dnieper  Valley  settled  in  the  northeast.  A  new  Nov- 
gorod came  into  existence.  Under  the  Grand  Dukes 
of  Moscovy,  Moscow  grew  from  a  little  outpost  fort 
of  the  province  of  Vladimir  to  a  full-fledged  town,  in 
fact  into  the  administrative  and  ecclesiastical  center 
of  Russia,  for  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Moscovy  conquered 
the  territory  that  touched  on  it. 

In  going  northward  the  people  met  and  fused  with 
Finnish  and  Tartar  natives,  docile,  peaceable  people, 
of  the  Volga  and  Oka  Valleys,  in  regions  that  now  con- 
stitute the  center  of  Great  Russia.  Finnish  and  Tar- 
tar manners  and  customs  were  adopted  by  the  new- 
comers, the  native  racial  type,  language,  morals  and 
beliefs  going  into  the  composite  of  the  Russian  na- 
tionality. Thus  grew  up  the  Moscovites  of  Great  Rus- 
sians {Vielkoruss),  who  now  comprise  70%  of  the  total 
population  of  European  Russia. 

The  Great  Russians  are  tall,  well-built  folk,  with 
brown  hair  and  blue  eyes,  flat  faces  and  very  white 
teeth.  They  are  a  vivacious  people,  alert,  shrewd,  fear- 
less— characteristics  bred  in  them  through  long,  hard 
battles  for  livelihood  in  the  forests  and  swamps.  From 
their  ranks  came  the  settlers  who  first  braved  the  Si- 
berian wilderness  and  planted  the  flag  of  empire  firmly 
in  the  Asiatic  provinces. 

The  third  ethnological  group — 7%  of  the  whole — 
are  the  White  Russians  (Bieloruss),  who  occupy  the 
upper  Dnieper,  a  land  singularly  barren  of  charm  or 


34       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

natural  resources.  The  people  have  an  admixture  of 
Lithuanian  and  West  Finnish  blood  in  their  veins. 
Of  all  the  Russians,  they  are  the  poorest  class,  given 
to  drunkenness,  laziness  and  an  appalling  aptitude  for 
petty  dishonesty.  The  soil  of  White  Russia  is  very 
poor  and  the  consequent  crops  negligible,  save  where 
the  land  is  owned  and  worked  by  Poles.  Such  factories 
as  are  in  this  region  were  owned  and  operated — until 
the  war  began — by  Germans.  An  illiterate  body,  boast- 
ing no  literature  to  speak  of,  the  White  Russians  repre- 
sent the  very  sort  of  people  many  foreigners  conceive 
all  Russians  to  be. 

IV 

Another  and  more  important  body — a  warrior  race 
quite  separate  from  the  men  in  the  street — are  the  Cos- 
sacks. The  word  kazak  originally  meant  freebooter, 
and  in  that  word  is  the  story  of  the  origin  of  the  class, 
a  story  of  great  romance. 

In  the  beginning  the  Cossacks  were  inhabitants  of 
Little  Russia — the  Ukraine — ^but  their  nomadic  life 
had  made  them  a  mixed  race,  a  people  in  whose  veins 
ran  Tartar,  Turkish,  Caucasian,  Slavonic  and  Gothic 
blood.  The  Ukraine,  which  was  the  border  land,  had 
no  limits  and  confines  and  the  people  were  obliged  to 
defend  their  homes  against  attack  from  all  sides. 
Watchful  waiting  for  a  possible  fight  soon  became 
a  racial  habit.  Back  and  forth  across  the  Ukraine 
swept  the  tides  of  conquest — Turks,  Poles  and  Tartars. 
Like  our  New  England  forebears,  the  peasant,  as  a 
l6th  Century  contemporary  put  it,  "went  to  work  with 
a  gun  on  his  shoulder  and  a  sword  at  his  side."  Despite 
this  precarious  existence  in  the  midst  of  warring  peo- 


WHAT  IS  A  RUSSIAN?  35 

pies,  enough  of  the  population  survived  to  form  the 
nucleus  of  the  Cossacks. 

They  were  Orthodox  folk,  trained  in  the  art  of  war. 
For  the  furtherance  of  the  faith  and  the  exercise  of 
the  latter  art,  they  formed  themselves  into  a  great 
brotherhood,  the  Zaporogiaji  Setcha.  This  knighthood 
was  not  unlike  King  Arthur's.  Its  purposes  were  to 
go  about  righting  wrongs,  defending  the  poor  and  weak, 
overcoming  the  heathen  and  driving  them  from  the 
earth.  All  men  were  free  and  equal  in  the  brotherhood. 
At  the  head  stood  the  Ataman,  or  chief,  who  was  elected 
by  the  members;  the  government  of  the  clan  was  in 
the  hands  of  a  Circle  or  assembly  of  the  people.  Thus 
from  the  start  the  Cossack  Government  was  a  republic, 
and  as  a  republic  it  administered  the  affairs  of  the 
Ukraine  for  several  generations. 

It  was  a  wild,  free  life  they  led  in  the  borderland. 
(You  can  read  of  it  in  Sienkiewicz's  With  Fire  and 
Sword. ^  Now  they  would  battle  against  the  heathen 
foe,  now  they  would  settle  down  and  marry  the  heathen 
foe's  daughters.  Once  a  year  the  men  of  the  brother- 
hood forsook  their  wives  and  retired  into  a  military 
"retreat" — to  use  the  religious  application  of  the  word 
— in  their  rendezvous  among  the  islands  of  the 
Dnieper.  What  went  on  there  history  does  not  record ; 
possibly  maneuvers,  undoubtedly  a  great  deal  of 
drinking  and  bragging.^ 

Under  this  romantic  regime  the  Cossacks  built  up 
their  own  legends  and  colorful  history.     They  swash- 

^  I  use  the  word  "bragging"  advisedly.  Quite  apart  from  the  fact 
that  this  is  the  custom  of  the  sterner  sex,  it  is  the  term  used  in  the  old 
bylinas,  or  folk  epics,  to  describe  the  manner  of  speech  of  the  heroes. 
Thus  in  the  legend  of  "Quiet  Dunai  Ivanovitch"  we  find  the  phrase, 
"When  all  were  well  drunken,  and  the  feast  waxed  merry,  they 
began  to  brag." 


36       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

buckled  around  the  countryside,  attacking  anything 
not  Orthodox — Catholic  Pole,  Tartar  Moslem  and 
Jew — making  love  when  it  pleased  them,  drinking 
copiously  save  in  time  of  war  (when  to  drink  meant 
death  by  hanging),  and  altogether  having  a  remarkably 
ideal  time. 

In  the  beginning  they  invariably  fought  on  the  side 
of  the  underdog,  fought  fearlessly  and  fiercely,  and 
their  name  soon  enough  became  synonymous  with 
bravery  and  cruelty.  This  idealistic  warfare  was 
destined  to  pass  away,  however,  for  the  Cossacks  even- 
tually degenerated  into  mere  mercenaries,  fighting  on 
the  side  that  offered  the  highest  price. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  i6th  and  early  years 
of  the  17th  Centuries,  they  fought  successively  against 
the  Poles;  with  the  Poles  against  Russia  and  Tur- 
key; against  Turkey;  and  then  against  Poland.  They 
experienced  a  constant  succession  of  peace  and  war 
with  the  Kingdom  of  Poland,  of  affiliation  with  it 
and  rebellion  against  it.  Finally,  when  the  Ukraine 
became  part  of  Moscovy  in  1667,  the  Cossacks  were 
enrolled  in  the  Russian  ranks. 

The  change  of  allegiance  made  them  by  no  means 
loyal  and  faithful  subjects.  Numbering  over  300,000 
horsemen,  fully  equipped  and  hardened  by  warfare, 
they  caused  such  internal  trouble  that  the  Moscovite 
Princes  found  just  reason  for  suppressing  them. 
Gradually  their  ranks  were  thinned  and  their  leaders 
hanged.  By  the  time  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  they  were 
subdued  to  such  a  degree  of  pliability  that  they  could 
be  trusted  to  serve  the  State  to  further  its  purposes. 

Among  the  designs  of  the  State  at  this  time  was  ex- 
pansion eastward  and  the   conquest  of  the  Siberian 


WHAT  IS  A  RUSSIAN?  37 

tribes.  Under  Yermak,  a  fearless  leader,  the  Cossacks 
crossed  the  Urals,  defeated  the  Tartars  at  a  spot  near 
where  now  stands  the  city  of  Omsk,  and  battled  their 
way  through  the  Wilderness  and  hostile  tribes  across 
Asia.  By  1775  their  stanitsas  (fortified  villages)  were 
dotted  along  a  line  that  formed  the  Great  Road  to  the 
Pacific,  and  their  standards  had  been  carried  across 
the  Behring  Straits  and  planted  over  Alaska.  Ever 
since  that  time  the  Cossacks  have  been  on  the  forefront 
of  the  Empire,  protecting  it  against  invasion  from 
without  and  uprising  within. 

The  Cossacks  now  number  about  2,500,000,  of  which 
185,000  are  active  soldiers.  They  are  divided  into 
ten  Voiskos^  or  districts,  which  give  them  their  distinct 
classification:  Don  Cossacks,  Kuban,  Astrakhan, 
Terek,  Orenburg,  Ural,  Siberian,  Semiryschensk,  Amur 
and  Usurri.  In  return  for  services  rendered  the  Gov- 
ernment they  are  granted  special  privileges.  Their  land 
is  given  them  free  of  cost  and  they  hold  it  free  of 
taxation.  They  also  possess  hunting  and  fishing  rights 
and  the  privilege  of  brewing  beer.  In  addition  they 
retain  their  peculiar  social  and  political  organization: 
each  stanitsas  (village  division  of  the  Voiskos^  has  its 
Stanitsas  Ataman;  public  matters  are  decided,  as  in 
the  beginning,  by  popular  vote.  The  Tsarevitch  was 
the  chief  Ataman  of  all  the  Cossacks. 

The  services  the  Cossacks  render  the  State  are  a  con- 
stant preparedness  for  war  and  for  mobilization.  Each 
trooper  supplies  his  own  horse  and  equipment,  and  he 
must  be  ready  at  a  moment's  notice  to  saddle  up  and 
ride  off  wherever  the  Tsar  may  command. 

At  the  age  of  18  a  youth  enters  the  army  and  for 
three  years  thereafter  is  in  the  "rookie"  class.    At  21 


38       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

he  joins  a  field  regiment  in  which  he  serves  four  years. 
A  second  four  years  are  spent  in  a  regiment  of  the  sec- 
ond class,  and  then  he  goes  to  a  regiment  of  the  third 
order.  After  this,  he  enters  the  reserve,  serves  there 
five  years,  and  finally  completes  his  career  by  being 
enrolled  in  the  Opolchina,  which  is  Russia's  equivalent 
for  the  German  Landsturm. 

Although  in  the  beginning  lovers  of  liberty,  avowed 
foes  of  the  rich  and  protectors  of  the  poor,  the  Cossacks 
have  long  since  ceased  to  serve  such  idealistic  ends. 
Soldiers,  whose  business  it  is  to  obey,  they  have  been 
employed  in  putting  down  riots  and  -pogroms — on 
every  occasion  where  political  and  social  unrest  has 
to  require  their  services.  And  in  this  capacity  they 
have  well  earned  their  name  for  cruelty.  Since  they 
have  no  close  political  affiliation  with  the  average  folk, 
they  have  no  sympathies  and  can  be  trusted  to  strike 
right  and  left  once  the  order  is  given — an  order  that 
the  soldier  of  the  locality  would  be  loath  to  obey.  In 
times  of  peace  they  ride  the  far-flung  Asiatic  frontier, 
and  by  their  presence  protect  and  encourage  the  thou- 
sands of  settlers  who  go  there  every  year  to  take  up 
life  in  Russia's  Land  of  Promise. 

While  the  majority  of  the  Cossacks  are  Orthodox, 
a  goodly  number  are  Raskolniks^  or  Old  Believers,  who 
did  not  take  to  the  new  order  of  things  ecclesiastical  in 
the  time  of  Peter  the  Great  and  the  reformer  Nikon. 

For  some  time  there  has  been  agitated  a  restriction 
of  Cossack  privileges,  but  they  have  given  such  a  good 
account  of  themselves  in  the  present  war  that  it  is  quite 
unlikely  they  will  suffer  any  economic  or  political  re- 
strictions for  some  time  to  come. 


WHAT  IS  A  RUSSIAN?  39 


From  the  hour  when  Moscovy  rose  revived  from  the 
ashes  of  the  Tartar  fire,  until  the  present  generation, 
there  has  been  an  almost  steady  acquisition  of  peoples 
and  lands  by  the  Empire. 

Siberia,  wrested  from  the  tribes,  was  Russian  by  the 
16th  Century,  and  several  years  before  our  own  settlers 
had  pierced  the  wilderness  west  of  the  Mississippi  Rus- 
sia was  firmly  settled  in  the  extreme  northwest  of 
America.  Thus  was  gathered  into  the  folds  of  empire 
an  expanse  of  territory  twice  the  size  of  the  Continent, 
peopled  with  a  great  diversity  of  nomadic  tribes,  speak- 
ing a  variety  of  dialects  and  believing  half  a  dozen 
faiths — Moslem,  semi-Moslem,  Buddhism,  Shaman- 
ism and  pure  pagan.  Since  the  building  of  the  Trans- 
Siberian  and  the  sweep  of  settlers  into  the  Asiatic  prov- 
inces, many  of  these  tribes  have  dropped  their  nomadic 
life  and  clustered  into  villages.  The  presence  of  the 
Cossack  stanitsas  has  helped  develop  their  nominal  citi- 
zenship into  actual  and  active  allegiance.  Some  of  the 
bravest  fighting  in  this  war  lies  to  the  credit  of  these 
native  tribesmen.  In  religion  they  are  still  Moslem, 
semi-Moslem,  Buddhistic  or  pagan,  despite  the  fact 
that  until  the  Edict  of  Toleration  (promulgated  in 
1905),  they  were  classed  collectively  as  Orthodox.  To 
them  is  extended  a  toleration  not  characteristic  of  the 
European  provinces  of  the  Empire. 

Since  1808,  when  Finland  was  acquired  by  Russia, 
the  Scandinavian  element  has  steadily  been  entering 
the  Empire  and  the  Protestant  influence  steadily  in- 
creasing. The  conquest  of  the  Caucasus  brought  in 
the   Georgians    and  Armenians — Mohammedans   and 


40       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

early  Christians  ^  by  religion.  The  partition  of  Poland 
at  the  end  of  the  i8th  Century  introduced  a  Roman 
Catholic  element  which  before  this  time  was  not  an 
important  factor.  Thus  were  the  racial  and  national 
families  assembled. 

To  recapitulate :  The  main  divisions  of  the  Russian 
people  are  the  Great,  Little  and  White  Russians;  the 
Siberian  tribes  that  are  now  outnumbered  eight  to  one 
by  the  settlers;  the  Georgians  and  Armenians;  the 
Letts  and  Poles,  the  Lithuanians,  Finns  and  Germans 
of  the  Baltic  Provinces. 

These  groups  represent  Orthodox  churchmen 
(69.9%),  Roman  Catholics  (9.8%),  Mohammedans 
(10.8%),  Lutherans,  semi-Mohammedans,  Jews  {4.%) 
and  pagans,  beside  a  host  of  sects.  They  comprise 
sixty-four  racial  and  tribal  divisions,  people  both  ab- 
sorbed and  unabsorbed,  loyal  and  disloyal,  speaking 
no  less  than  150  tongues  and  dialects  and  living  in 
a  variety  of  climates  and  environments  from  the  Arctic 
to  well-nigh  the  Equator,  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Baltic. 

The  political  affinities  of  these  people  are  as  varied 
as  their  faiths  and  tongues.  Within  the  past  century 
the  Great  and  Little  Russians  have  experienced  an 
active  infiltration  of  Germans  and  Austrians,  many  of 
whom  made  no  effort  to  adopt  either  the  Russian  tongue 
or  Russian  life.  The  Little  Russians  are  constantly 
being  urged  on  by  Austrian  and  German  agents  to 
strike  out  for  the  freedom  of  the  Ukraine.     The  in- 

*  While  the  world  justly  sympathizes  with  the  sufferings  of  the 
Armenian  people,  it  should  not  shut  its  eyes  to  the  fact  that  no  race 
under  the  sun  is  capable  of  more  treachery,  dishonesty  and  down- 
right abominations  than  the  Armenians.  Russia  has  eminent  justifica- 
tion for  heavily  policing  their  region,  and  Turkey  finds  the  same 
measures  necessary.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  Armenians  have 
^received  according  to  their  just  merits. 


WHAT  IS  A  RUSSIAN?  41 

habitants  of  the  Baltic  provinces — most  of  them  lost 
now  to  Russia — were  more  German  than  Russ.  As 
for  the  Pole — he  loves  Russia  about  as  much  as  an 
Irishman  loves  England.  In  the  Caucasus  there  has 
been  one  attempt  to  found  a  republic  and  the  pro- 
Turkish  element  is  always  restive  under  Russian  rule. 
In  Siberia  alone  does  there  seem  to  be  any  unadul- 
terated allegiance — mainly  because  the  people  there 
are  too  busy  to  bother  their  heads  about  fantastic  po- 
litical programs. 

With  such  a  motley  and  hyphenated  population 
Russia  can  take  no  chances  on  sudden  national  awak- 
enings, such  as  are  in  store  for  the  United  States  un- 
less, of  course,  we  find  means  to  amalgamate  into  last- 
ing fealty  the  political  and  racial  sympathies  of  those 
hosts  of  foreigners  who  are  drawn  to  our  shores  by 
the  money  lure.  Russia  is  not  losing  sight  of  her  ulti- 
mate destiny  in  a  welter  of  honeyed  words  and  pleas- 
ing sentiments.  Besides,  as  she  has  already  learned  by 
this  war,  the  path  of  her  progress  lies  not  in  a  whole- 
sale adoption  of  Western  methods  and  ideals,  but  in 
a  gradual,  growing  up  to  them.  To  use  the  simile  of 
Prof.  Vinogradoff  in  his  Self -Government  in  Russia^ 
she  is  slowly  turning  around,  swinging  from  East  to 
West. 

But  she  must  turn  on  her  own  foundations  and  by 
the  power  of  her  own  will  and  the  energy  of  her  own 
strength. 


CHAPTER  III 

A  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE   MAKING 

RUSSIA  to-day  is  a  democracy  in  the  making; 
or,  to  express  it  in  terms  of  its  past,  it  is  gradu- 
ally reverting  to  a  democracy. 
Contrary  to  the  course  of  other  European  powers, 
Russia  began  as  a  democracy,  evolved  into  an  au- 
tocracy under  the  influence  of  the  Mongol  Khans  and, 
later,  under  the  necessity  for  forcing  home  Western 
ideals  and  for  centralizing  the  government  in  the  reigns 
of  Peter  the  Great  and  Catherine  the  Great  respec- 
tively. Ever  since  it  has  been  struggling  to  attain  its 
former  state.  Each  of  these  political  developments,  it 
is  well  to  remember,  was  made  for  the  solidarity  of  the 
nation,  and  was  begun  with  the  ostensible  purpose  of 
public  welfare,  and,  in  many  instances,  by  popular 
elective  consent. 


The  peak  of  the  autocracy  is  the  Emperor.  Because 
he  is  supposed  to  voice  the  will  of  the  people  (tem- 
pered by  the  will  of  God  as  he  may  interpret  it!)  he 
is  given  absolute  authority.  Hence  the  stroke  of  his 
pen  came  to  be  the  most  powerful  agency  in  Rus- 
sia. He  wielded  it  irrespective  of  his  people's  wishes 
and  contrary  to  the  counsel  of  his  ministers.  Yet  such 
authority  has  its  advantages.    With  the  stroke  of  the 

42 


A  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  MAKING  43 

pen  were  the  serfs — 43,000,000  of  them — freed  in 
1861;  whereas,  in  this  country,  the  liberation  of  the 
slaves — only  3,500,000  in  all — required  four  long 
years  of  bloody,  internecine  strife  that  rent  the  country 
in  twain.  With  the  stroke  of  the  pen  was  the  sale  of 
vodka  prohibited  throughout  the  empire  in  1914,  and 
the  largest  single  item  of  revenue  enjoyed  by  the  Gov- 
ernment was  automatically  lopped  off,  a  feat  that,  here 
in  America — notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  liquor 
trade  is  not  a  Government  monopoly — would  be  almost 
inconceivable. 

Absolutism  in  Russia  has  grown  in  ratio  to  govern- 
ment monopoly.  This  monopoly  has  been  assumed 
from  time  to  time  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the 
revenue  on  the  one  hand,  and  serving  the  public  needs 
on  the  other.  Such  almost  universal  paternalism  makes 
absolute  authority  possible.  The  people  would  seem 
to  be  caught  between  two  fires.  Not  the  fact  that  the 
Emperor  always  exercised. this  authority,  but  his  abil- 
ity to  exercise  it,  was  at  once  the  strength  and  weak- 
ness of  the  Government. 

Absolute  authority  was  held  to  be  necessary  for  keep- 
ing in  line  the  motley  of  peoples  and  religions  and 
political  factors  that  comprise  the  Empire.  In  addi- 
tion, it  was  a  corrective  to  the  wilfulness  of  the  few 
and  a  safeguard  to  the  many,  who  are  illiterate,  igno- 
rant and  economically  dependent.  It  is  this  very  disci- 
pline that  has  given  the  Russian  people  a  unified  pur- 
pose in  times  of  great  national  crisis,  such  as  the  present 
European  War.  Summarized  in  its  best  terms,  it  is 
designed  to  work  for  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest 
number.  Reduced  to  its  worst  terms,  such  authority 
and  discipline  fall  heavily  on  those  who  are  past  the 


44      THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

need  for  it ;  of  the  latter  group  the  numbers  are  increas- 
ing rapidly.  There,  in  a  nutshell,  is  the  situation  of 
the  people  versus  the  bureaucracy  to-day. 


II 


The  story  of  the  rise  and  decline  of  absolutism  is 
not  without  its  romance. 

In  the  time  of  the  Eastern  Slavs  and  until  the  Mon- 
gol invasion  in  the  13th  Century,  the  tribal  govern- 
ment was  democratic  and  representative,  the  citizens 
being  free  and  equal  under  the  law.  The  Mir,  which 
exists  to  this  day,  was  a  government  by  the  heads  of 
the  families.  Embryo  representation  was  also  found 
in  the  government  of  the  great  trading  cities,  Nov- 
gorod and  Pskov  and  the  republics  contiguous  to  them, 
which  in  the  1 2th  Century  had  their  Vietches  or  assem- 
blies of  citizens. 

The  conception  of  absolute  authority  was  of  Eastern 
source,  a  system  learned  from  the  Mongols,  who,  after 
the  subjugation  of  the  country,  retired  to  their  Eastern 
provinces  and  left  the  administration  of  affairs  in  the 
hands  of  local  representatives.  This  authority  was 
gradually  acquired  by  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Moscovy 
as  they  gathered  strength  in  their  capacity  of  local 
deputies  of  the  Golden  Horde.  The  Grand  Dukes 
fought  organization  with  organization,  absolutism  with 
absolutism.  They  thereby  unified  the  scattered  masses 
and  gave  them  individual  and  collective  strength  to 
overcome  the  invader. 

In  the  reign  of  Ivan  III  the  authority  was  endowed 
with  a  sacred  aspect.  Ivan  married  Sophia,  a  Palseolo- 
gus,  niece  of  the  last  Emperor  of  Greece,  and  the  Rus- 


A  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  MAKING  45 

sian  dynasty  became  related  to  the  Byzantine,  which 
was  likewise  the  source  and  form  of  the  Church.  From 
its  sacred  plane  it  grew  to  despotism  under  the  same 
Tsar,  despotism  that  bore  fruit  in  the  conquest  and 
consolidation  of  principalities  fringing  on  Moscovy, 
but  at  the  same  time  instilled  into  the  masses  that 
slavish  fear  of  the  Emperor's  person  and  will  which 
still  exists  to-day.  It  was  Ivan  III  who  took  for  his 
insignia  the  double-headed  eagle  of  Byzantium,  the 
crest  ever  since  borne  by  Russia. 

Even  after  this  assumption  of  absolute  authority  the 
voice  and  vote  of  the  people  were  still  the  power  in 
the  land.  Despite  his  unspeakable  methods,  Ivan  IV 
(The  Terrible)  was  the  active  friend  and  protector 
of  his  people.  When  he  came  to  the  throne  there  ex- 
isted in  Moscovy  the  Zemsky  Sobor^  a  consultative  coun- 
cil formed  of  representatives  of  the  various  states,  con- 
vened in  times  of  great  national  crisis;  and  the  Boyar- 
skaia  Douma,  a  permanent  council  of  aristocratic  land- 
owners which  directed  the  administration  of  affairs. 
Even  this  boyar  authority  was  distasteful  to  the  peo- 
ple, and,  taking  sides  with  the  masses,  Ivan  set  about 
to  suppress  the  boyar  and  to  better  his  people's  lot. 

Boris  Goudonov,  his  successor  but  one,  owed  his 
accession  to  popular  vote,  yet  he  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  Dvorianies^  or  lesser  nobles,  that  he  might  gain 
their  support  against  the  boyar  landed  aristocracy. 

The  great  economic  problem  at  this  time  was  where 
to  get  labor.  There  was  land  enough,  but  not  suffi- 
cient people  to  farm  it,  and  those  on  the  land  never 
stayed  permanently  settled  in  one  place.  (From  the 
beginning  the  Russ  has  always  been  possessed  with  a 
perfect  mania  for  migrating  about ! )    The  boyars  could 


46       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

afford  to  pay  their  farmers  sufficient  wages  to  bribe 
them  into  "staying  put";  the  lesser  nobles  were  not 
so  fortunately  situated.  To  satisfy  the  latter's  re- 
quirements, Boris  issued  a  ukase  on  St.  George's  Day, 
1597  (St.  George's  Day  is  the  Russian  annual  moving 
day — their  first  of  May),  forbidding  all  free  laborers 
to  leave  the  estates  and  farms  on  which  they  were 
working.  Thus,  by  the  stroke  of  the  pen,  did  serfdom 
come  into  existence,  to  continue  a  gigantic  political  and 
economic  problem  for  300  years  until,  again  by  the 
stroke  of  the  pen,  it  was  abolished  and  43,000,000  serfs 
became  freed  men. 

Keenly  alive  to  what  this  blow  at  Russian  independ- 
ence meant,  the  gentry  and  upper  middle  class  took  up 
arms  against  the  aristocracy.  Troublous  times  fell  on 
the  throne.  One  usurper  after  another  arose,  was  over- 
come and  disappeared. 

Through  all  this  the  will  of  the  people  was  gathering 
its  forces.  The  fire  of  a  great  political  and  religious 
reform  swept  through  Russia  in  the  16th  Century.  It 
quickened  the  lowly  and  the  high,  the  lordly  and  the 
peasant.  A  solidarity  gripped  all  classes.  Russia  must 
be  saved  I  And  once  more  national  salvation  was  found 
in  the  inalienable  right  of  the  people;  they  restored 
the  power  of  the  ballot.  By  popular  election  was 
Mikail  Romanov,  scion  of  a  family  that  had  lively 
sympathies  with  the  people,  raised  to  the  throne.  Thus 
through  the  will  of  the  people  the  present  dynasty  came 
into  being. 

The  next  Romanov  to  leave  his  mark  upon  Russia 
and  the  world  was  Peter  the  Great.  He  inherited  the 
popular  interest  of  his  clan  together  with  a  Titanic  am- 
bition to  chart  the  shortest  and  most  efficient  course  to 


A  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  MAKING  47 

their  betteraient.  With  his  own  hands  he  labored 
abroad,  and  then  came  back  to  teach  his  fellow  coun- 
trymen what  he  had  learned.  He  destroyed  the  power 
of  the  hoyar^  reformed  the  political  and  social  order — 
basing  it  on  Western  types — and  made  the  Church  an 
arm  of  the  State.  He  founded  a  new  capital  in  the 
north  and  gave  Russia  her  first  navy.  He  created  the 
Governing  Senate,  which  was  a  representative  body  of 
the  people,  and  granted  the  municipalities  and  prov- 
inces a  form  of  self-government.  The  system  of  per- 
sonal nobility  also  came  into  existence  whereby  a 
man's  rank  may  depend  on  his  individual  services  to 
the  State  and  not  on  the  doubtful  services  of  an  an- 
cestor. In  short,  Peter  the  Great  was  at  once  the  first 
democrat  of  Russia  and  its  first  real  absolute  ruler. 

"There  never  was  a  reform  that  was  not  opposed 
by  a  Lion  and  an  Ass."  True  to  the  proverb,  this  in- 
fusion of  Western  efficiency  failed  to  meet  with  the 
approval  of  a  large  section  of  the  people.  The  ecclesi- 
astical reforms  of  Nikon  had  split  the  Church  into  the 
Old  Believers,  those  who  held  to  the  old  order,  and 
the  New.  In  addition  Peter  called  in  foreigners  to 
help  him  formulate  and  teach  his  new  systems,  and 
the  troubles  of  the  people  took  on  a  new  character. 

Previous  to  this  time  the  problems  of  the  people 
were  mainly  such  as  arose  among  themselves ;  they  now 
began  to  include  the  factor  of  foreign  relations  and 
foreign  influence  within  the  borders  of  Russia.  Peter 
opened  a  window  to  Europe,  which  was  well;  but 
through  that  window  have  flown  into  Russia  influences 
that  have  worked  as  much  for  her  woe  as  for  her  weal. 
It  has  been  the  story  of  the  Variagians  all  over  again; 


48       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

Russia's  calling  in  foreigners  to  lend  her  a  hand,  and 
the  foreigners  eventually  getting  the  upper  hand. 

From  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great  on,  the  chart  of 
Russian  independence  is  as  jagged  and  irregular  as  a 
mountain  range.  Now  the  people  would  approach 
freedom,  now  it  was  far  from  them.  The  political  ex- 
perience of  the  masses  in  these  past  300  years  may  well 
be  defined  as  an  endeavor  "to  assert  their  own  nation- 
ality in  their  own  country." 

The  reign  of  Catherine  the  Great  saw  the  people 
once  more  endowed  with  a  semblance  of  control  of 
their  own  affairs.  Provincial  and  district  assemblies 
of  the  Noblesse  were  instituted,  the  officers  being  elec- 
tive; and  a  Commission,  a  representative  convention 
of  all  the  people,  was  called,  but  failed  to  materialize 
as  a  legislative  body. 

The  next  notable  strikes  upward  were  the  freeing  of 
the  serfs  in  1861  by  Alexander  II,  the  creation  of 
courts  of  justice,  and  the  establishing  of  the  Zemstvos, 
the  provincial  assemblies  elected  by  all  classes  of  the 
people. 

The  next  great  step  which  has  brought  the  Russian 
people  nearer  to  the  attainment  of  their  original 
state  of  democracy  was  the  enactment  of  the  Organic 
Laws  of  October,  1905,  and  the  Manifesto  of  March, 
1906,  whereby  two  legislative  bodies  were  created, 
viz.: 

The  Imperial  Council  {Gosudarstivenni  Sovet),  a 
body  much  after  the  manner  of  the  old  Boyarskaia 
Dou?na^  one-half  of  whose  members  are  appointed  by 
the  Tsar  and  the  other  half  elected  by  the  Zemstvos 
and  municipalities;  and 

The  Imperial  Douma  {Gosudarstivenni 'Doumd)^  an 


A  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  MAKING  49 

elective  assembly  in  which  all  classes  and  creeds  are 
represented  on  equal  footing. 


Ill 

The  Government  of  Russia  can  be  cross-sectioned 
just  as  were  the  social  classes  in  Chapter  I. 

At  the  head  stands  the  Emperor,  direct  descendant 
of  Mikail  Romanov,  who  was  chosen  by  the  people. 
In  him  is  vested  the  absolute  authority.  He  can  pro- 
mulgate legislation  and  veto  it.  In  this  respect,  how- 
ever, his  power  is  limited  for,  to  quote  the  statute,  "No 
new  law  may  be  promulgated  without  the  assent  of 
the  Imperial  Council  and  the  Imperial  Douma  or  en- 
forced without  the  sanction  of  the  monarch."  In  addi- 
tion the  Emperor  is  the  supreme  command  of  the  army 
and  navy,  and  the  protector  of  the  Church.^  While 
nominally  standing  alone,  he  is  actually  supported  by 
the  prestige  and  offices  of  the  royal  family.  Abso- 
lutism finds  only  its  ultimate  expression  in  his  decrees. 

For  the  execution  of  this  power,  authority  is  dele- 
gated to  twelve  Ministers  of  State,  composing  the  Cabi- 
net Council.  The  members  are  nominated  by  the  Em- 
peror and  retain  their  portfolios  subject  to  his  approval. 
These  are  the  ministries  of  Foreign  Affairs,  War,  Navy, 
Finance,  Education,  Ways  of  Communications,  Justice, 
Commerce  and  Industry,  Imperial  Court,  Agricultural, 
Internal  Affairs  and  Government  Control.  In  addition 
to  the  Cabinet  Council  there  are  other  executive  institu- 
tions, the  Cabinet,  however,  being  the  most  important. 

*The  Emperor  is  required  to  take  deacon's  orders  in  the  Orthodox 
Church  before  ascending  the  throne.  His  assumption  of  these  orders 
is  part  of  the  coronation  ceremonies.  As  head  of  both  Church  and 
State  he  then  crowns  himself. 


50       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

Divine  authority  is  protected  and  maintained  by 
five  agencies:  (A)  The  Bureaucracy,  which  comprises 
the  total  body  of  administrative  officers;  (B)  Govern- 
ors of  the  Administrative  Districts  of  which  there  are 
78,^  in  whom  rests  the  direct  supervision  of  the  dis- 
trict and  who  are  responsible  to  the  Tsar  alone;  (C) 
the  Secret  Police,  commonly  referred  to  as  "The  Third 
Division,"  or  Okhrana^  a  detective  system  operating 
separately  from  the  local  police  force.  In  addition, 
(D)  the  Church,  as  a  branch  of  the  State,  owing  its 
financial  and  temporary  powers  to  the  autocracy,  can 
be  counted  as  an  upholder  of  the  Absolute  authority. 
To  this  list  must  be  added  (E)  the  Censor,  who  con- 
trols the  printed  word. 

The  highest  juridical  institution  of  the  Empire  is 
the  Senate,  which,  in  its  various  divisions  and  sub- 
divisions, safeguards  the  law  and  exercises  justice.  The 
Senators  are  all  appointed  by  the  Tsar  and  hold  the 
rank  of  Privy  Councilor.  Legislation  must  receive  the 
sanction  of  the  Senate  before  it  becomes  a  law.  It  is 
in  the  Senate  that  much  legislation  is  lost,  owing  to  its 
alleged  illegality. 

Thus  from  the  lowest  ispravnik  or  district  officer  in 
the  smallest  hamlet  to  the  Tsar  himself,  the  pyramid 
of  bureaucracy  rears  itself. 

A  gigantic  weight*?  Yes.  For  the  weight  rests  upon 
the  people,  and  the  pyramid  is  so  constructed  as  to  re- 
sist pressure — theoretically.  Logically  it  would  seem 
that  this  weight  might  be  lifted  by  one  of  three 
methods:  the  growing  strength  of  the  masses;  the 
crumbling  of  the  pyramid  itself  through  sheer  decay, 

*  In  European  Russia  are  49  Government  Districts;   in  Poland,   10 
(until  the  war)  ;  in  Finland,  8;  in  the  Caucasus,  7;  and  in  Siberia,  4. 


A  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  MAKING  51 

and  under  vicious  assault  from  below;  or  finally  by- 
pressure  and  attack  from  nations  without. 

One  by  one  these  three  methods  have  been  tried  with 
more  or  less  success.  The  revolt  of  the  Decembrists 
in  1725  brought  but  little  good,  and  the  work  of  the 
Nihilists  in  the  '70's  of  the  past  century  worked  but 
a  negligible  benefit.  The  combination  of  pressure  from 
foreign  lands — either  friendly  or  unfriendly — the 
growth  of  education  and  the  increase  of  industries  will 
undoubtedly  bring  to  the  Russian  people  the  necessary 
reforms.  This  combined  movement  has  been  gaining 
strength  since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century. 
The  necessary  cohesion  was  given  it  by  the  war. 

Of  the  two  legislative  bodies  the  Imperial  Council  is 
the  older,  having  been  established  first  as  an  advisory 
legislative  body  without  the  power  of  initiating  legis- 
lation, its  members  being  all  appointed  by  the  Em- 
peror. By  the  reform  laws  of  1905  the  advisory  char- 
acter of  this  chamber  was  changed  and  it  became  the 
upper  house  of  the  Russian  Parliament,  and  to  a  de- 
gree a  representative  elective  body. 

The  Emperor  appoints  half  the  members,  including 
the  President  and  Vice-President,  thus  retaining  a  ma- 
jority of  seats.  The  President  holds  his  office  for  life 
or  at  the  will  of  the  Emperor.  There  are  196  mem- 
bers in  the  present  Council;  18  representing  the  no- 
bility, 6  the  universities  and  academies,  12  the  mer- 
chants' guilds  of  the  municipalities,  34  the  Zemstvos^ 
and  22  the  landed  proprietors.  They  are  elected  for  a 
term  of  nine  years,  one-third  being  seated  at  a  time. 


52       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

The  Emperor  may  remove  any  member  he  chooses  and 
order  a  new  election. 

The  functions  of  the  Imperial  Council  are  identical 
with  the  Douma's;  it  has  the  power  to  initiate  legisla- 
tion and  vote  budgets.  It  also  exercises  certain  admin- 
istrative and  judicial  authority  in  such  matters  as  the 
prosecution  of  high  officials  and  the  supervision  of  cer- 
tain financial  and  railway  matters. 

For  a  matter  of  actual  fact,  very  little  legislation 
starts  in  the  Imperial  Council,  its  efforts  being  mainly 
directed  either  to  the  ratification  or  rejection  of  pro- 
posed bills  sent  up  from  the  Douma.  From  the  Im- 
perial Council  a  bill,  having  had  the  ratification  of  both 
houses,  is  handed  over  to  the  Cabinet  Council,  then 
to  the  Emperor  for  his  signature.  Midway  its  course 
may  be  halted  by  the  Council,  which  may  deem  it  an 
unwise  measure,  or  by  the  Senate,  which  may  judge  it 
illegal. 


Both  constitutionally  and  ethnologically  the  Douma 
can  be  compared  to  no  house  of  representatives  in  the 
world.  Its  numbers  include  all  creeds,  walks  of  life 
and  levels  of  intellect.  Its  representatives  come  from 
half  a  dozen  races,  speak  as  many  tongues,  yet  all  have 
equal  footing.  Freedom  of  speech  is  permitted,  and, 
unless  a  member  deliberately  talks  sedition,  he  is  al- 
lowed the  greatest  liberty  of  expression.  The  reports 
of  these  speeches,  freely  reported  in  the  municipal  and 
provincial  press,  form  a  mass  of  evidence  quite  con- 
trary to  the  conception  Americans  have  of  the  rigid 
censorship  exercised  over  political  discussion  in  Russia. 
The  Government  does  object  to  indiscriminate  discus- 


A  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  MAKING  53 

sion  by  people  whose  words  will  only  cause  unrest. 
The  Douma  is  the  official  place  for  talking  over  such 
matters;  moreover,  the  electoral  law  designs  to  assem- 
ble there  the  men  best  fitted  for  discussing  just  such 
problems. 

The  composition  of  the  Douma  and  the  history  of 
the  first  two  assemblies  were  matters  of  current  news- 
paper and  magazine  report  at  the  time,  and  the  reader 
need  only  have  his  memory  refreshed  by  a  survey  of 
the  situation  that  brought  the  Douma  into  being. 

On  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs  in  1861,  several 
hundred  thousand  acres  of  Government  land  were  di- 
vided among  the  43,000,000  liberated  peasants  on  the 
understanding  that  they  were  to  pay  for  it  during  the 
course  of  the  next  fifty  years.  In  theory  this  was  just; 
in  actual  practice  it  worked  out  unjustly  for  the  ma- 
jority of  the  peasants.  They  had  land,  but  they  had 
to  pay  taxes.  As  freemen  they  were  suddenly  loaded 
with  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship.  The  growth  of 
capital  and  industry  caused  a  growth  of  the  cities.  Al- 
though the  rural  communities  had  their  Zemstvos^  the 
municipalities  were  not  so  organized,  causing  a  breach 
between  the  urban  proletariat  and  the  peasant. 

The  growth  of  the  wealthy  landowners  who  kept  the 
peasants  in  debt  through  heavy  taxation,  the  increased 
interest  in  peasant  affairs  through  the  V  Narodny  ^ 
Movement,  the  labor  troubles  consequent  on  the  growth 
of  labor  far  in  advance  of  legislation  for  labor,  and  the 
defeat  of  the  Government  forces  in  Manchuria — all 
these  culminated  in  a  great  unrest  that  scored  an  active 
revolution  in  1905.     Throughout  the  Empire  revolts 

^V  Narodny — to  the  people,  the  practice  common  among  intelli- 
gentia  during  the  last  century  of  living  among  the  peasants  and  in- 
structing them. 


54      THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

sprang  up ;  rioting  was  the  order  of  the  day.  The  hand 
of  the  Government  was  forced.  A  Douma  was  created 
— at  first  only  a  representative  body  of  the  rich,  then 
a  representation  of  all  the  classes. 

A  great  "lust  for  liberties"  seized  the  Russian  people. 
The  first  Douma  was  convened.  Peasant  leaders  and 
socialists  brought  forward  a  mad  program  of  reforms. 
When  the  Government  refused  to  consider  it,  the  rep- 
resentatives became  embittered  and  unruly.  Their 
anger  swept  through  the  country,  the  masses  claiming 
that  they  had  been  deceived.  A  second  Douma  was 
convened.  Its  members  were  even  more  socialistic  than 
those  of  the  first,  and  upon  them  the  mailed  fist  of 
the  Government  fell  heavily.  Stolypin,  the  Premier, 
one  of  the  greatest  men  Russia  has  produced  in  modern 
times,  ruled  that  pacification  must  come  before  legisla- 
tion, and  he  omitted  no  act  to  hasten  the  end  of  in- 
ternal disturbances.  So  summary  were  his  methods 
and  so  swift  ^  that  by  the  time  the  third  Douma  assem- 
bled Russia  was  too  cowed  to  fight  and  too  absorbed 
in  healing  her  wounds  to  give  much  regard  to  legisla- 
tion. 

From  this  maze  of  conflicting  interests  and  revolts 
that  harried  and  well-nigh  dismembered  Russia  during 
1905-7  we  are  only  now  beginning  to  be  able  to 
analyze,  in  the  light  of  the  intervening  ten  years,  just 
what  part  of  the  Russian  people  revolted  with  the  defi- 
nite purpose  of  attaining  self-government,  and  what 
part  revolted  because  revolution  was  in  the  air  and 
because  it  might  bring  freedom,  license  and  the  end  of 

^Between  1905-6,  26,000  persons  were  killed  by  the  army  and  police, 
and  31,000  wounded;  upwards  of  175,000  were  jailed.  During  1908, 
the  opening  of  the  third  Douma,  7,016  civilians  were  arrested  and 
1,340  condemned  to  death. 


A  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  MAKING  S5 

individual  bondage  to  debt  and  taxes.  Time  has  shown 
that  an  appalling  amount  of  the  revolution  was  misdi- 
rected energy  and  energy  wasted,  that  a  great  deal  of  it 
was  the  mad  riot  of  mobs  hungry  for  blood  and  destruc- 
tion, and  that,  for  foreign  readers,  an  appreciable  amount 
of  it  was  the  creation  of  imaginative  newspaper  corre- 
spondents. Mavor,  in  his  Economic  History  of  Rus- 
sia, has  stated  the  situation  in  perfect  justice:  "In 
all  the  groups  there  seemed  to  rise  a  lust  for  power. 
There  is  no  evidence  of  any  widespread  desire  for  popu- 
lar government  with  all  its  possibilities  and  risks.  Al- 
though there  was  a  clamor  for  an  assembly  convened 
for  the  purpose  of  fomiulating  a  constitution,  few 
realized  what  such  an  assembly  meant;  and  probably 
very  few  would  have  been  disposed  to  accept  the  com- 
promises which  any  constitution  formulated  by  any 
such  assembly  would  have  involved." 

According  to  American  standards — or  better,  accord- 
ing to  American  ideals — the  Douma  has  made  a  poor 
showing.  It  is  not  justly  representative  of  the  people 
any  more  than  is  our  House  of  Representatives.  More- 
over, its  short  ten  years'  annals  read  like  a  decline  from 
brilliant  though  blind  liberalism  into  a  slough  of 
deadly  conservatism.  The  new  broom,  intending  to 
sweep  clean,  only  swept  with  a  gigantic  futile  force 
that  spent  its  energy  in  programs  and  fiery  words. 

For  that  reason  the  first  and  second  Doumas  were 
failures,  if  we  weigh  their  value  according  to  their  con- 
structive results.  The  representatives  of  the  people  de- 
manded rights  that  their  constituents  refused  to  sup- 
port either  collectively  or  individually.  The  average 
Russian  wasn't  willing  to  do  his  bit. 

The  third  Douma  passed  as  a  perfunctory  meeting 


56       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

of  cowed  legislative  puppets  who  merely  submitted  to 
orders  given  them  from  above.  In  addition,  that  as- 
sembly was  less  representative  of  the  people,  since  the 
Government  and  vested  interests  had  gained  a  majority 
of  seats. 

The  present  body  showed  a  singular  lack  of  activity 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  Its  actions  may 
well  be  attributed  to  stage  fright,  for  until  that 
hour  the  Douma  had  not  faced  so  great  a  national 
crisis.  It  was  still  apparently  conservative  and  quies- 
cent until  March  of  this  year,  when  its  plans  for  the 
overthrow  of  the  dark  forces  were  consummated  in 
a  bloodless  revolution  that  staggered  the  world. 

There  was  held  over  the  Douma  the  power  of  the 
throne.  On  one  occasion,  the  Third  Douma  and  the 
Imperial  Council  refused  to  pass  a  law  greatly  desired 
by  the  Government,  whereupon  both  bodies  were  dis- 
solved for  three  days,  and  the  law  promulgated  by 
the  Tsar,  and  then  convened  again.  This  is  an  ex- 
treme case,  however,  for  the  more  recent  influence  of 
the  Tsar  and  the  bureaucrats  has  been  tempered  by  a 
toleration  that  was  almost  commendable.  This  ar- 
bitrary control  of  legislation  may  be  inconceivable  to 
Americans  until  they  find  a  parallel  in  their  own  his- 
tory. There  have  been  presidents  who  assumed  the 
privilege  of  initiating  legislation  and,  because  of  their 
power  over  Congress,  were  fairly  certain  of  its  enact- 
ment. These  methods  can  be  seen  in  the  administra- 
tions of  Jefferson,  Jackson  and  Wilson.  Russia  has 
read  Montesquieu's  Esprit  de  Lois^  but  she  has  no 
such  document  as  the  Federalist. 

Lack  of  progress  in  the  Douma  may  also  be  at- 
tributed to  another  cause — the  seeming  inability  of 


A  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  MAKING  57 

Russians  to  arrive  anywhere  as  yet  by  deliberation  and 
debate.  Here  in  America,  when  we  want  to  solve  a 
knotty  problem,  we  say,  "Well,  let's  get  together  and 
talk  it  over."  Generally  we  reach  some  conclusion 
that  forms  the  basis  for  future  action.  In  Russia  they 
get  together  and  talk — Heaven  knows,  no  people  under 
the  sun  love  to  talk  so  much  as  the  RussI — but  they 
rarely  arrive  at  any  definite  conclusion.  Compared 
with  some  of  the  oratory  (sdc)  in  our  own  House  of 
Representatives,  the  Douma  oratory  makes  a  fair  show- 
ing; as  an  effective  agency,  however,  it  produces  a 
profligacy  of  words  and  a  paucity  of  constructive  ideas. 
The  embryo  Russ  statesman  lacks  the  ability  to  get 
down  to  the  point;  he  is  eternally  circumlocutory. 

One  thing  about  the  Douma  is  certain;  it  is  just  be- 
ginning to  learn  to  run  the  machinery  of  legislation. 
It  is  still,  after  these  ten  years,  little  more  than  a  train- 
ing school  for  the  men  who  are  powers  in  their  own 
districts  and  who  will  be  powers  in  days  to  come.  Per- 
haps its  greatest  weakness  is  the  fact  that  the  elective 
system  which  brings  together  these  various  and  varied 
members  is  complicated,  unjust  and,  in  many  instances, 
a  farce. 

Yet  the  hope  of  the  Russian  people  lies  in  this 
Douma.  Wise  men  among  them  do  not  look  for  per- 
fection in  legislation  or  perfection  in  the  system  on 
which  the  elections  are  based.  And  it  is  well  that  the 
members  of  this  body  are  not  altogether  given  their 
head.  Democracy  in  Russia  is  still  in  the  making; 
great  tasks  still  lie  before  it.  Progress,  tempered  with 
conservatism,  will  be  the  secret  of  success.  Russia  will 
make  haste  only  by  going  slowly. 


58       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

VI 

In  one  department  of  self-government  at  least,  the 
Russian  people  are  fast  making  progress — in  the 
Zemstvos'. 

These  rural  assemblies  were  established  in  1864, 
three  years  after  the  Emancipation,  and  have  been 
steadily  growing  in  power  and  usefulness  ever  since. 
They  are  of  two  kinds:  (1)  The  Executive  Boards 
iVpravd)  of  the  small  town,  equivalent  to  our  select 
townsmen,  and  (2)  the  Assemblies  of  the  Govern- 
mental Districts,  the  membership  of  which  is  composed 
of  representatives  elected  from  among  the  members 
of  the  smaller  boards.  The  president  of  the  local  board 
is  the  elected  starosta  or  elder  of  the  town ;  in  the  larger 
groups  the  Marechal  de  Noblesse  is  the  head.  A  pre- 
ponderance of  seats  in  the  larger  assemblies  is  held  by 
the  nobility,  a  logical  apportionment,  since  the  gentry 
own  most  of  the  land  and  contribute  most  generously 
to  its  improvement.  The  procedures  of  both  the  local 
and  district  Zemstvos  are  subject  to  the  supervision  of 
the  Governor  as  representative  of  the  Imperial  power. 

Nominally  the  province  of  the  Zefnstvos^  activities 
includes  such  matters  as  schools  and  school  teachers, 
improvement  of  roads  and  bridges,  adjustment  of  taxes, 
charities,  fire  protection  and  similar  town  and  district 
affairs.  In  many  instances  they  enjoy  the  financial  aid 
of  the  Government,  especially  in  the  school  budgets. 
In  no  case  are  the  taxes  levied  by  the  Zemstvos  to  ex- 
ceed 3%  of  the  total  valuation  of  property. 

The  story  of  the  Zemstvos  is  not  altogether  a  con- 
stant record  of  progress.  They  have  suffered  from  their 
apprenticed  hand,  their  lack  of  practical  knowledge  of 


A  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  MAKING  59 

procedure  and  a  weakness  for  fantastic  action.  Again 
and  again  have  their  procedures  been  blocked  by  reac- 
tionary members  of  the  bureaucracy,  and  even  in  such 
late  statesmen  as  Count  Dmitry  Tolstoy  and  Count 
Witte  did  they  find  active  enemies.  To  this  day  they 
meet  with  prohibitions  from  the  Zemsky  Natchalniks 
and  Peasants'  Commissioners,  who  control  the  com- 
munal institutions  of  43  of  the  governments. 

It  is  a  fact  characteristic  of  Russian  life  that  in  de- 
feat have  the  Zemstvos  found  victory.  The  very  mis- 
fortunes of  the  people  have  given  them  their  most  active 
stimulus  to  growth  and  prestige. 

During  the  past  two  generations  there  have  been 
times  when  the  Government,  finding  itself  utterly  help- 
less in  the  face  of  great  crises,  has  been  obliged  to  call 
on  the  Zemstvos  for  aid.  Thus  it  was  in  the  famines 
of  1898  and  1910,  thus  it  was  in  the  Japanese  War, 
and  so  it  has  been  in  the  present  struggle.  Not  only 
have  the  Zemstvos  proved  themselves  loyal,  but  they 
have  quite  shamed  the  Government  by  the  dispatch  and 
energy  of  their  labors  and  contributions.  Through  the 
Zemstvos  are  the  peasants  being  taught  modern  farm- 
ing methods.  Through  the  Zemstvos  has  been  waged 
war  against  epidemics  and  plagues. 

When  the  Government  failed  to  meet  the  Red  Cross 
demands  of  the  Japanese  War,  there  arose  the  Union 
of  All  Zemstvos^  which  undertook  the  work  and  carried 
it  on  to  a  satisfactory  ending.  This  union  for  national 
work  gave  the  assemblies  an  unprecedented  solidarity, 
and,  due  to  this  solidarity  among  the  people,  was  the 
movement  for  the  Douma  pushed  on  to  a  favorable 
conclusion.  Not  revolution  but  evolution  of  the  will 
of  the  people  brought  the  Douma  into  being.     Since 


6o       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

then  there  have  been  congresses  of  agriculturists  from 
the  Zemstvos  and  other  meetings  of  the  Union  repre- 
sentatives which  indicate  the  growing  power  of  these 
district  assemblies.  In  1912  their  efforts  to  reorganize 
the  local  courts  met  with  success  in  a  favorable  statute, 
peasant  judges  being  elected  to  decide  minor  cases  and 
administer  local  customs,  their  decisions  being  re- 
spected by  the  judges  of  the  higher  courts  elected  by 
the  district  assemblies. 

The  present  war  has  brought  the  Zemstvo  Union  into 
serious  prominence.  It  has  joined  with  the  Union 
of  the  Municipalities  to  establish  and  support  hos- 
pitals, hospital  trains,  hospital  and  army  stores,  and 
to  increase  the  supply  of  munitions.  To  quote  one  ac- 
tivity alone,  the  Zemstvos  made  and  delivered,  in  ex- 
actly two  months  of  1914,  7,500,000  complete  suits  of 
underwear  for  the  army.  Their  other  activities  have 
been  equally  swift  and  efficient.  The  union  is  now 
working  on  the  sanitation  of  towns,  the  housing  of 
the  2,000,000  refugees  which  still  remain  from  the  re- 
treat from  Poland,  Lithuania  and  Volhynia,  and  a 
program  of  improvements  to  be  undertaken  after  the 
war.  In  short,  the  labors  of  the  Zemstvos  have  passed 
from  merely  district  affairs  to  national,  and  the  in- 
terests of  the  people  even  in  the  smallest  towns  have 
been  turned  from  petty  local  problems  and  disputes  to 
those  great  national  affairs  that  Russia  faces  to-day 
and  will  face  to-morrow. 

VII 

Glancing  through  even  this  brief  outline  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, it  is  possible  to  discern  many  points  where 
provision  is  deliberately  made  for  the  bureaucracy  to 


A  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  MAKING  61 

drive  conservative  and  reactionary  wedges  into  the  ma- 
chinery of  liberal  legislation  and  self-government.  As 
representatives  of  the  Emperor,  responsible  to  him 
alone,  the  governors  and  governors-general  have  a  con- 
trolling voice  in  the  Zemstvos.  Higher  up,  the  Imperial 
Council  and  Senate  are  so  constituted  as  to  exercise  a 
prohibitory  influence  over  the  Douma.  Thus  the  at- 
tempts of  the  people  at  self-government  are,  in  a  meas- 
ure, checkmated  b)^  the  bureaucracy. 

At  this  point  the  question  is  naturally  raised.  How 
can  Russia  ever  expect  to  advance  with  such  reaction- 
ary influence  constantly  retarding  the  course  of  prog- 
ress? The  answer  to  this  problem,  misunderstood  or 
misjudged,  is  the  rock  on  which  much  sympathy  with 
Russia  splits. 

Analyze  the  question  and  immediately  it  divides  it- 
self into  two  separate  propositions :  ( 1 )  What  do  we 
mean  by  Russia — the  Government  as  the  nation,  or  the 
people  as  a  conglomerate  mass?  (2)  Are  the  mass  of 
the  people  in  a  sufficiently  enlightened  state  to  under- 
take free  and  unguided  control  of  their  own  affairs'? 

Granted  that  a  solidarity  of  government  is  requisite 
for  the  well-being  and  progress  of  a  nation,  it  is  evident 
that  in  Russia,  as  in  any  other  nation,  there  must  be  a 
government  that  will  act  for  the  people  both  in  in- 
ternal and  foreign  affairs.  Were  the  Government  of 
Russia  handed  over  completely  to  the  masses  to-day, 
indescribable  chaos  would  ensue.  Within  a  month  the 
Russian  Empire. would  be  divided  into  a  dozen  warring 
factions — a  condition  from  which  other  nations  would 
not  be  slow  to  profit. 

Up  to  March,  1917,  Russian  revolutions  invariably 
lacked  a  unity  of  purpose.     There  has  always  been 


62       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

a  rush  for  liberties.  The  principle  of  every-man-grab- 
for-himself  has  been  all  too  evident  and,  in  a  measure, 
has  been  responsible  for  the  failure  of  the  revolutions. 
The  present  international  struggle  has  done  much  to 
give  the  people  a  unified  purpose.  Unlike  the  Japanese 
War,  which  was  conducted  by  and  for  the  bureaucracy 
at  the  expense  of  the  people's  interests,  the  present  war 
finds  the  people  devoted  heart  and  soul  to  the  cause. 

The  other  question :  "Are  the  people  in  a  sufficiently 
enlightened  state  to  undertake  free  and  unguided  con- 
trol of  their  own  affairs?"  is  best  answered  by  the  sta- 
tistics on  education.  During  the  reign  of  the  present 
emperor  more  has  been  accomplished  for  education  than 
during  any  other  epoch,  but  the  situation  is  still  far 
from  desirable  or  even  promising.  Only  21%  of  the 
population  can  read  and  write.^  On  an  average  the 
Government  devotes  only  6%  of  its  budget  to  educa- 
tion, although  between  1907  and  1912  the  expenditure 
was  doubled.  The  greatest  activity  has  been  shown 
by  the  Zemstvos^  which  now  devote  an  average  of  30% 
of  their  budgets  to  education. 

According  to  the  latest  available  statistics  (1914), 
there  are  127,477  schools  of  all  kinds  in  the  Empire, 
with  a  total  attendance  of  8,030,088  pupils.  Both  the 
Douma  and  the  Zemstvos  are  seriously  considering  this 
problem  of  education,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  after 
the  war  this  will  be  an  avenue  of  great  progress,  full 
of  promise  to  those  who  look  for  Russian  democracy. 

The  question  of  the  ability  of  the  people  to  govern 
themselves  also  depends  on  the  condition  of  the  mass 
of  the  people.    Until  1914  Russia  possessed  a  peasantry 

*The  figures  for  Spain  and  Portugal,  incidentally,  were  not  far  in 
advance  of  the  Russian  a  few  years  ago. 


A  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  MAKING  63 

and  a  proletariat  that  suffered  from  the  attacks  of  two 
implacable  enemies,  excess  of  drink  and  lack  of  work. 
The  one  was  permitted  by  the  Government,  the  other 
was  due  to  the  long  winters  during  which  work  on  the 
farms  came  to  a  standstill.  The  growth  of  industries 
consequent  on  the  war  has  given  the  peasant  something 
to  do.  The  universal  adoption  of  temperance  has  given 
the  moujik  a  clear  head.  He  saves  his  money  now,  he 
commits  less  crime  and  is  given  to  less  folly.  More- 
over, he  can  think  now  whereas  before  he  only  talked. 

The  social  reforms  that  the  war  has  brought  will 
undoubtedly  leave  their  marks  on  the  Government. 
Because  of  their  increased  ability  to  govern  themselves, 
the  Zemstvos  will  doubtless  be  given  more  opportunity 
for  the  exercise  of  that  right.  There  will  be  a  quicken-  ^^ 
ing  of  interest  in  their  behalf,  and  the  privilege  will  be 
extended  to  those  districts  that  as  yet  have  not  been 
granted  a  Zemstvo  government.  In  a  word,  from  the 
lowest  member  of  the  Zemstvo  to  the  representatives  in 
the  Douma,  Russia  will  be  going  to  school  to  learn  self- 
government  by  experimental  methods. 

Considering  the  situation  in  this  light,  one  can  read- 
ily see  the  wisdom  of  continuing  the  semblance  of 
dynastic  direction  for  some  little  time.  By  this 
I  do  not  mean  to  infer  that  the  bureaucracy  is  uni- 
versally moved  by  any  highly  idealistic  altruism  for 
the  welfare  of  the  people  and  the  progress  of  the  gov- 
ernment. Far  from  it.  Russia  has  her  Mark  Hannas 
and  her  Chauncey  M,  Depews.  The  bureaucrat  is  hu- 
man and  the  grab  spirit  is  strong  within  him.  But 
I  do  mean  to  impress  the  point  that  not  all  aristocrats 
are  bureaucrats,  nor  have  all  bureaucrats  been  dyed- 
in-the-wool  thieves,  grafters  and  poltroons.    There  are 


64       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

bureaucrats  in  favor  to-day,  and  more  of  them  are 
coming  into  favor  as  the  days  go  on,  who  have  a 
lively  liberal  consciousness,  who  are  moved  by  high, 
progressive  ideals.  And  in  their  hands  the  interests 
of  the  people  are  safe. 

Meantime,  what  will  become  of  the  revolutionist? 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  THINGS  HE  REVOLTS  AGAINST 

^  i  AWENTY  years  from  now  the  rarest  thing  in 
I  Russia  will  be  the  revolutionist.  Already  the 
-■-  melodramatic,  wild-haired,  wan-faced,  blear- 
eyed  Nihilist  is  passing  away.  Youths  who  a  decade 
previous  hurled  bombs  had  almost  all  gone  into  busi- 
ness when  the  war  started.^  Business  pays,  bombs  do 
not.  What  bloody  revolution  failed  to  accomplish, 
peaceful  economic  evolution  is  accomplishing.  Twenty 
years,  and  the  martyr  type  of  which  we  read  so  much 
in  our  daily  press  will  be  as  extinct  as  the  dinosaur. 


There  is  that  indescribable  element  in  almost  every 
Russ  which  impels  him  to  be,  like  the  Irishman  at 
Castle  Garden,  "agin"  things  generally. 

I  have  always  suspected  that  that  Irishman  had  been 
drinking,  and  was  out  of  a  job.  Constant  discontent 
is  an  offspring  of  constant  alcoholic  stimulation  and 
the  lack  of  something  to  do.  It  is  engendered  by  ennui 
and  mad  passion. 

*  This  statement  can  safely  be  made  despite  the  strikes  and  labor 
troubles  that  broke  out  in  Russia  in  1914.  Since  the  war  it  has  been 
discovered  that  much  of  this  unrest  was  engineered  by  the  German 
Embassy  with  the  view  of  damaging  Russian  credits  abroad.  It  will 
be  recalled  that  German  agents  employed  the  same  labor  methods  in 
their  efforts  to  stop  the  manufacture  and  shipment  of  munitions  here 
in  Ainenca. 

65 


66      THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

Until  1914,  when  the  Tsar's  ukase  prohibiting  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  vodka  was  promulgated, 
vodka,  the  raw  potato  whiskey  of  the  masses,  did  more 
to  prevent  the  peasant  from  improving  his  lot  than  any 
single  agency.  Private  firms  manufactured  it  and  the 
Government  distributed  it,  earning  thereby  the  tidy 
sum  of  $300,000,000  a  year.  An  average  of  one  vodka 
kabak  (dram-shop)  to  every  200  souls  was  the  gener- 
ous way  the  peasant  was  accommodated.  Yet  it  was 
among  these  very  peasants  that  the  prohibition  move- 
ment started.  By  1905  so  strong  had  grown  the  senti- 
ment against  the  traffic  that  the  Peasants'  Union  re- 
solved to  rid  themselves  of  the  Government  gin-shops 
by  no  less  a  measure  than  forcible  destruction. 

This  was  not,  however,  the  usual  procedure.  Local 
option  had  been  extended  to  the  Zemstvos,  and  they 
proceeded  to  exercise  the  privilege.  With  singularly 
clear  foresight  they  comprehended — what  those  in 
power  completely  failed  to  grasp  until  the  exigencies 
of  war  forced  it  upon  them — that  it  is  anything  but 
fair  weather  "when  good  fellows  get  together  with  a 
stein  on  the  table."  No  good  song  rang  clear  through 
the  peasant  land;  famine  and  disease  stalked  in  the 
reeling  moujik's  tracks,  and  after  them  came  the  Jew 
mone3^-lender.  Th€  peasant  suffered,  his  wife  suffered, 
his  children  suffered,  and  his  fields  gave  scant  increase. 

The  full-breasted  Russian  mother  contributes  nobly 
her  share.  She  customarily  has  anywhere  from  six  to 
twelve  children,  of  which  one-third  die.  The  infant 
mortality  of  32.7%  puts  Russia  at  the  head  of  the 
Powers  in  this  lamentable  particular.  The  average 
mortality  of  29%  gains  her  a  similar  undesirable  place. 
Vodka  has  had  much  to  do  with  this  alarming  mor- 


THE  THINGS  HE  REVOLTS  AGAINST         67 

tality,  for  the  baba^  the  moujik  wife,  shared  her  hus- 
band's weakness  for  the  bottle. 

Drunkenness,  moreover,  bred  laziness,  and  the 
farmer  whose  land  was  a  long  distance  from  town  neg- 
lected it  or  cultivated  it  carelessly.  Famine  came — 
in  1898  and  again  in  1910 — when  the  people  of  twenty 
governments  went  starving  because  the  crops  had 
failed. 

To  recapitulate,  in  the  past  the  moujik  has  been 
over-stimulated  alcoholically.  He  also  has  had  scarcely 
enough  to  keep  him  busy  the  year  round.  This  condi- 
tion has  existed  for  generations.  Little  wonder  that 
in  the  moujik's  soul  smoulders  the  spirit  of  discontent. 
Part  of  it  is  discontent  with  himself;  part,  justifiable 
envy  of  the  lot  of  others ;  and,  to  give  him  his  full  due, 
the  major  part  is  the  lot  imposed  upon  him  by  mal- 
administration. Eighty  per  cent  of  the  population  of 
Russia  is  moujik,  while  the  entire  rural  population  con- 
stitutes 86%.  A  great  portion  of  the  political  and 
economic  problems  of  Russia,  then,  concern  themselves 
with  the  moujik — the  man  on  the  farm.  The  things 
he  revolts  against  are,  in  the  main,  the  revolting  points 
of  Russia. 

He  revolts  against  debt;  against  taxes  which  keep 
him  in  debt;  against  the  amount  of  land  apportioned 
to  him,  as  against  that  owned  by  his  more  fortunate 
fellows,  or  by  the  gentry;  against  the  control  of  his 
local  assemblies  by  representatives  of  the  bureaucracy; 
against  exploitation  by  political  factions  and  by  Jews; 
and  in  some  instances  against  the  Church.  The  censor 
holds  but  little  terror  for  him,  since  he  is  generally  too 
illiterate  to  write  or  read,  but  he  has  a  wholesome  and 
logical  regard  for  the  gendarme  and  ispravnik,  who  are 


68       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

apt  to  overhear  his  fervid  speeches  and  clap  him  into 
jail  until  he  cools  off. 

An  empty  stomach,  an  empty  larder,  a  ruined  field — 
these  seem  to  be,  in  the  long  run,  the  most  cogent  forces 
which  drive  the  moujik  to  revolt.^  While  by  no  means 
all  f?toujiks  are  poverty-stricken  and  bound  by  debt,  a 
great  majority  are  in  constantly  straitened  circum- 
stances as  a  result  of  poor  crops,  brought  about  partly 
by  "the  acts  of  God,"  as  the  insurance  policy  puts  it, 
partly  by  ignorance  of  up-to-date  agricultural  methods, 
lack  of  modern  farming  machinery  and  utensils,  the 
inevitable  vodka,  sheer  laziness,  and  the  way  in  which 
the  land  was  distributed  prior  to  the  Stolypin  land  re- 
forms. The  Government  and  the  Zemstvos  are  en- 
deavoring to  alleviate  much  of  this  distress  by  estab- 
lishing agricultural  schools  and  farming  credits.  Ac- 
cording to  the  latest  available  figures  (1913)  there  are 
more  than  300  special  agricultural  schools,  as  well  as 
210  experiment  stations — a  total  of  5,000  instructors 
in  all — the  majority  of  them  being  supported  by  the 
Zemstvos.  The  congestion  on  the  farms  and  the  unfair 
distribution  of  land  are  being  solved  by  emigration  to 
Siberia  and  by  the  working  of  the  Stolypin  reforms  of 
1907,  just  referred  to,  whereby  36,000,000  acres  were 
redistributed  and  2,000,000  acres  added  to  the  public 
lands,  making  2,000,000  new  farms  in  all,  which  are 
owned  and  cultivated  by  the  peasants. 

The  moujik' s  distrust  of  the  Jew  has  a  reasonable 
basis.     The  Jew  with  whom  he  is  concerned  is  either 

*  Some  of  the  peasant  revolt  is  quite  incomprehensible — save  one 
attribute  it  to  distrust  and  ignorance — and  many  of  his  uprisings 
are  of  a  character  that  makes  one  lose  sympathy  for  him.  Thus  in 
the  cholera  epidemic  of  1902  peasants  deliberately  destroyed  hospitals 
erected  for  their  care,  and  killed  doctors  and  nurses.  It  was  another 
expression  of  the  "agin"  attitude. 


THE  THINGS  HE  REVOLTS  AGAINST         69 

a  middleman  or  a  money-lender.  In  both  capacities  his 
methods  have  been  objectionable  and  his  interests 
usurious,  for  he  takes  advantage  of  ignorance  and  pov- 
erty. The  average  moujik  is  not  shrewd;  the  average 
Jew  is,  and  in  a  bargain  the  moujik  is  worsted  nine 
times  out  of  ten.  The  Jew  holds  the  mortgage  over 
his  head  like  a  club.  He  is  the  only  crow  that  fattens 
in  a  famine  land.  With  one  great  cause  for  debt — 
vodka — abolished,  the  moujik  may  be  able  to  get  on 
his  financial  feet,  and  the  story  may  be  changed.  In 
addition,  the  Zemstvos  in  many  districts  have  replaced 
the  Jew  as  middleman  for  the  sale  of  crops  and  espe- 
cially for  the  sale  of  Kustarny^  the  peasant  handicraft 
wares. 

So  far  as  the  peasant's  personal  feeling  is  concerned, 
he  revolts  against  the  Church  only  in  a  good-natured 
fashion.  The  custom  of  feeing  the  clergy  either  by 
cash  or  by  kind  often  falls  as  a  heavy  burden  on  him. 
During  the  peasant  troubles  of  1905  the  natives  of  the 
village  of  Mashkova  Suren,  to  quote  one  example,  went 
so  far  as  to  draw  up  their  own  table  of  church  charges : 
3  roubles  instead  of  8  for  a  marriage;  one  rouble  in- 
stead of  3  for  a  funeral;  12  copecks  instead  of  50 
for  a  baptism  and  burial;  and  20  copecks  instead  of 
one  rouble  for  thanksgivings.  The  moujik  also  has  a 
case  against  the  Church  for  the  idleness  which  it  forces 
upon  him.  As  there  are  124  feast-days  on  which  no 
work  is  supposed  to  be  done,  in  addition  to  the  fifty- 
two  Sundays,  the  farmer  is  deprived  of  a  goodly  share 
of  his  working  year. 

There  is  still  a  third  phase  of  his  economic  position 
in  regard  to  the  Church:  At  the  present  counting  the 
Church  owns  some  6,750,000  acres  of  land  in  the  most 


70       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

fertile  regions,  the  center  and  south  of  Russia,  which  it 
is  making  no  effort  to  improve.  This  land  is  rented 
to  the  peasants  at  a  rate  that  is  scarcely  generous,  to 
say  the  least.  Finally,  it  is  the  Church  that  is  the  most 
relentless  foe  of  popular  education  and  the  one  barrier 
which  stands  between  the  ignorant  peasant  and  the 
light  of  ordinary  schooling. 

II 

Unquestionably  the  war  has  been  the  greatest  stim- 
ulus for  the  betterment  of  the  peasants  individually. 
It  has  raised  the  standard  of  living.  This  can  be  seen 
by  the  increase  in  savings  deposits.  To  quote  the  fig- 
ures assembled  by  the  Russian  journalist,  W.  T. 
Tcherkesoff,  "Before  the  war  the  average  yearly  sav- 
ings deposits  were  between  7,500,000  and  8,000,000 
roubles.  During  the  first  year,  when  vodka  was  pro- 
hibited, they  rose  to  53,000,000,  and  in  the  first  six 
months  of  1916  to  60,000,000  roubles.  The  State 
Bank,  which  had  formerly  7,400  savings  banks  in  the 
country,  during  the  war  has  been  obliged  to  double  that 
number." 

Although  some  critics  might  read  in  these  figures 
only  the  effect  of  the  vodka  prohibition,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  war  opened  up  many  more  oppor- 
tunities for  making  money  than  the  peasant  ever  be- 
fore possessed.  Whereas  previously  the  winter  months 
were  spent  in  idleness,  the  peasants  now  are  kept  busy 
at  Zemstvo  and  municipality  work,  in  making  muni- 
tions and  in  the  factories.  This  new-found  prosperity 
has  not  been  without  evil  results,  however.  The  quick 
wages  and  the  unprecedented  size  of  them  have  bred 


THE  THINGS  HE  REVOLTS  AGAINST         71 

in  the  peasant  a  sudden  capacity  for  forgetting  the 
rights  of  others.  Peasants  have  refused  to  ship  to  the 
cities  any  of  their  hams,  for  example,  because  the  Gov- 
ernment fixed  the  maximum  price,  which  the  moujik 
farmer  was  not  pleased  to  accept.  Consequently,  while 
the  countryside  in  Russia  has  had  plenty  to  eat  during 
the  war,  the  food  situation  in  the  cities  was  very  grave. 
Sudden  wealth,  like  sudden  liberty,  is  a  dangerous  boon 
to  grant  an  ignorant  peasantry. 

The  war  has  brought  the  moujik  as  a  class  the  bene- 
fit of  solidarity  in  his  Union  of  All  Zemstvos  and  in 
the  cooperation  of  the  Zemstvos  with  the  municipali- 
ties. Although  as  yet  the  work  is  mainly  Red  Cross, 
this  solidarity  will  bear  fruit  in  the  sympathies  of  the 
peasants.  Soldiers  coming  back  from  the  front  will 
bring  the  added  benefit  of  having  mingled  with  troops 
from  other  parts  of  the  Empire  and  from  other  lands. 

As  a  whole,  the  war  has  given  the  Russian  people  a 
singleness  of  ideal — Russia.  It  has  made  them  more 
patriotic  and  more  religious.  Relentlessly  has  it  shown 
them  who  was  friend  and  who  was  foe.  It  has  made 
them  work,  and  the  work  has  come  in  new  channels, 
for  moujik  and  urban  proletariat  alike  have  bene- 
fited by  the  necessary  growth  of  industries  consequent 
on  the  war. 

Ill 

The  revolt  of  the  intelligentia  and  the  urban  pro- 
letariat is  quite  a  different  matter  from  the  discontent 
of  the  moujik  on  the  land.  In  the  one  case  the  problem 
is  agrarian,  in  the  other,  industrial  and  political. 

In  the  towns  and  cities  the  cause  of  much  discontent 
is  the  refusal  of  the  Government  to  recognize  labor 


72       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

unions;  the  censorship,  which  is  at  once  destructive 
to  thought,  stupid,  and  a  prohibition  that  only  pro- 
vokes and  invites  fracture ;  the  Church  as  a  corporation 
that  enjoys  immense  privileges  and  at  the  same  time 
an  enormous  income;  the  excessive  and  unscrupulous 
activities  of  the  Third  Division  and  its  agents  provo- 
cateurs; and  the  Government's  attitude  toward  labor 
and  the  working  classes  generally. 

Among  the  i?itelligentia  must  be  classed  the  uni- 
versity students  who  in  the  past  have  been  an  active 
revolting  element. 

In  this  respect  it  would  be  a  blessing  to  Russia  were 
the  gendarmerie  and  Third  Division  gifted  with  the 
faculty — so  amply  possessed  by  the  American  police — 
of  "looking  the  other  way."  Active  and  destructive 
revolt  in  Russia  has  often  been  the  doing  of  adolescents, 
the  idealistic  madness  of  undergraduates  and  of  men 
and  women  with  sophomoric  minds.  This  statement  is 
not  intended  to  belittle  the  heroism  and  sacrifices  of 
countless  noble  souls  who  have  poured  out  their  life- 
blood  for  Russian  freedom;  but  the  fact  remains  that 
much  revolt  has  been  a  lamentable  waste  of  misdi- 
rected youthful  energy. 

The  sanest  method  of  handling  such  cases  is  to  ig- 
nore the  activity  altogether,  let  revolutionists  speechify 
and  write  until  their  wrath  is  assuaged.  Forbid  it, 
and  the  evil  only  grows  and  authority  loses  respect. 
As  even  Count  Witte  expressed  it,  "Nothing  is  more 
apt  to  ruin  the  prestige  of  authority  than  frequent  and 
extensive  employment  of  repression." 

Many  a  Russian  revolutionist  has  suffered  more 
from  pent-up  expression  than   from   burning  ideals, 


THE  THINGS  HE  REVOLTS  AGAINST         73 

more  from  being  provoked  into  revolt  by  the  police 
than  from  altruistic  enthusiasm. 

If  Russian  college  lads  would  only  learn  to  play 
baseball  and  football  and  tennis  (games  are  practically 
unknown  in  Russian  universities),  half  the  student 
trouble  would  be  avoided.  Revolt  and  the  zeal  to  re- 
form the  world  are  well-defined  stages  of  adolescence. 
American  lads  suffer  as  much  from  it  as  do  Russian, 
only  the  American  lad  kicks  and  runs  it  out  of  his  sys- 
tem. Russia  spends  to-day  the  huge  sum  of  $30,000,- 
000  yearly  on  ordinary  police  activities  and  main- 
tenance, and  $4,000,000  to  maintain  the  gendarmerie. 
Think  what  different  reading  the  story  of  the  Russian 
universities  would  make  were  one-tenth  of  that  sum 
invested  in  stadiums,  athletic  fields  and  athletic  equip- 
ment! 

The  agent  provocateur  is  another  development  of  the 
secret  police  activities  that  is  wholly  despicable  and 
stupid.  Intended  to  nip  trouble  in  the  bud,  it  is  more 
often  employed  to  cover  up  the  misdeeds  and  failures 
of  officials.  When  national  crises  appear,  such  as  the 
present  war,  the  value  of  a  secret  police  is  apparent 
and  no  nation  can  afford  to  be  without  it.  But  living 
under  a  constant  fear  of  police  surveillance  and  police 
investigation,  knowing  not  who  is  friend  and  who  is 
foe,  stupefies  the  conscience  of  a  people,  deadens  the 
moral  sense  and  all  too  often — as  shown  by  the  reac- 
tion of  some  of  the  intelUgentia  after  1906 — results  in 
either  a  relapse  into  decadence  or  a  retreat  into  vague 
and  inactive  mysticism. 

The  freedom  for  which  the  people  have  recently 
struck  is  a  freedom  for  safe  and  normal  living — the 
right  to  live  without  eternally  looking  back. 


74      THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

IV 

The  censorship  of  Russian  newspapers  and  maga- 
zines is  unquestionably  an  affront  and  a  burden  to 
intelligent  readers.  I  believe  the  burden  is  more  dif- 
ficult to  bear  there  because  the  censorship  is  more  ob- 
vious in  Russia  than  in  any  other  land.  Here  in 
America  we  speak  of  "muzzling"  the  press;  in  Russia 
they  speak  of  censoring  it.  The  difference  lies  in  the 
methods  employed  and  the  final  printed  appearance  of 
the  journal.  In  America  the  censoring  is  done  before 
the  paper  goes  to  press  and  is  accomplished  in  the 
office  of  the  owner  or  at  the  desk  of  the  managing 
editor,  who  has  his  orders  from  "higher  up."  In 
Russia  the  galley  sheets  or  the  printed  paper  is  sub- 
mitted to  the  censor  who,  having  his  orders  from 
"higher  up,"  cuts  out  or  blacks  over  the  forbidden  pas- 
sages. The  American  paper  does  not  look  censored,  the 
Russian  is  obviously  so. 

There  have  been  numberless  occasions  when  the  cen- 
sorship of  the  press  has  been  used  to  cover  up  the  fail- 
ures and  misdeeds  of  officials  in  Russia,  but  cannot  the 
same  be  said  of  the  American  press  at  times? 

Censorship  forbids  the  free  expression  of  opinion. 
Now,  the  Russian  newspaper  contains  very  little  news 
and  a  great  deal  of  opinion  in  the  form  of  editorials, 
essays,  critiques  and  feuilletons.  What  the  thinking 
people  think  about  a  situation  interests  readers  in 
Russia  more  than  the  things  that  actually  happen. 
Hence  there  is  a  greater  expression  of  opinion  per  se 
than  there  is  in  American  newspapers  and  a  greater  op- 
portunity for  running  counter  to  the  opinions  of  the 
censor.    Expression  of  opinion  in  American  journals  is 


THE  THINGS  HE  REVOLTS  AGAINST         75 

practically  limited  to  two  or  three  columns  of  edito- 
rials, a  few  letters  from  readers,  a  cartoon  and  a  humor- 
ist's column.  The  rest  is  news,  and  between  newspa- 
pers is  the  liveliest  competition  not  to  miss  news  items, 
so  that  it  is  practically  impossible  to  censor  a  news 
item  out  of  all  the  papers.  "Muzzling"  the  press  in 
America  invariably  comes  from  a  financial  source, 
rather  than  a  political,  as  it  does  in  Russia.  Thus,  pre- 
vious to  the  war  the  criticism  of  German  methods  in 
Russia  was  universally  censored.  Again,  in  New  York 
City  six  months  before  the  arrival  of  Billy  Sunday  the 
editorial  writers  and  humorists  were  free  to  criticize 
that  evangelist's  methods  all  they  wished;  but  so  soon 
as  certain  moneyed  interests  undertook  to  finance  the 
campaign  in  New  York  the  order  went  forth  to  every 
newspaper  office  in  the  city  forbidding  adverse  criti- 
cism of  Sunday.  In  other  words,  the  free  expression 
of  thinking  men  in  newspaper  offices  was  censored  be- 
fore it  found  expression  on  paper.  Little  wonder  that 
the  Russians  refer  to  "Yankee  tricks"  I 


The  Russian  liberal  is  a  different  person  from  the 
revolutionist  in  that,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  his  bump 
of  level-headedness  is  more  pronounced,  and  he  recog- 
nizes that  lasting  reform  can  come  only  by  slow  stages 
and  through  legitimate  channels.  He  is  not  restricted 
to  any  one  class,  and  his  numbers  are  increasing  every 
day.  Because  of  this  Russia  will  pay  more  attention 
to  her  liberal  men  of  influence  than  she  has  in  the  past. 
The  European  War  has  forced  liberalism  on  Russia 
through  the  two  agencies  of  economic  and  military 


76       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

necessity  and  her  dealings  with  powers  in  which  liberal- 
ism is  more  firmly  established. 

Reactionary  bureaucrats  can  readily  read  the  writ- 
ing on  the  wall.  They  know  that,  once  liberalism 
creeps  into  legislation  to  any  extent,  the  business  of 
being  a  reactionary  will  have  its  disadvantages.  From 
the  very  beginning  the  bureaucracy  has  taken  its  toll 
of  "graft,"  and  few  members  of  it,  indeed,  have  been 
above  the  persuasion  of  the  easily  earned  coin.  This 
was  the  awful  revelation  of  the  Japanese  War  and  of 
the  opening  months  of  the  present  struggle.  "The  co- 
hesive power  of  public  plunder"  was  enormous.  That 
much  of  it  has  been  broken  and  its  upholders  penalized 
by  death  or  imprisonment  stands  to  the  credit  of  those 
in  authority. 

VI 

The  Jew  is  a  turbulent  political  and  economic  factor 
in  Russia,  and,  as  one  cause  of  unrest,  cannot  be  passed 
over  without  a  survey  of  his  status. 

By  the  Government  and  by  the  bulk  of  the  popula- 
tion the  Jew  is  considered  a  foreigner.  This  fact  should 
always  be  remembered  in  judging  the  Jewish  situation, 
because — whether  one  agrees  with  it  or  not — it  ex- 
plains the  Pale,  or  segregation  of  Jews  into  restricted 
areas,  and  is  the  reason  for  the  average  Russian's  vio- 
lent expression  of  disgust  when  foreigners  class  Russian 
Jews  as  Russians. 

To  Americans  all  Russians  are  alike;  to  Russians 
there  is  a  clear-cut  distinction  between  national  and 
racial  affinities.  The  Russian  is  a  loyal  subject,  he 
loves  his  motherland  and  is  generally  willing  to  stay 
there.    The  Jew,  on  the  other  hand,  will  migrate  wher  • 


THE  THINGS  HE  REVOLTS  AGAINST         77 

ever  there  is  opportunity  for  making  money.  More 
than  nine-tenths  of  the  emigrants  from  Russia  to  for- 
eign lands  come  to  the  United  States.  Of  them,  41 '/o 
are  Jews,  ^.^%  Germans,  5.9%  Finns,  25%  Poles, 
10.2%  Letts  and  Lithuanians  and  11.3%  Russians 
proper. 

Because  of  her  classification  of  the  Jew  as  a  for- 
eigner, the  Russian  Government  is  making  no  haste  to 
conclude  a  new  commercial  treaty  with  the  United 
States.  As  neither  party  loses  very  much,  so  far  as 
mutual  commercial  benefits  are  concerned,  Russia  sees 
little  necessity  for  backing  down  from  her  position. 

The  discrimination  against  Jews  takes  two  forms; 
the  restriction  of  the  number  of  Jews  in  the  public 
schools,  and  the  Pale  already  mentioned.  Jews  are 
permitted  in  the  schools  to  the  extent  of  2%  to  5% 
and  even  io7c  in  the  Asiatic  provinces.  For  those  who 
are  not  so  fortunate  as  to  be  included  in  the  chosen 
group,  there  are  private  schools  which  require  a  fee  for 
tuition.  This  is  no  misfortune  for  the  Jew,  since  he 
has  his  own  Kheder,  Talmudtory  and  Eshiboty  schools 
both  in  the  Pale  and  in  the  cities,  just  as  the  Moham- 
medans have  their  own  Medress  and  Melstelle.  More- 
over, many  sincere  orthodox  Jews  object  to  the  re- 
ligious teaching  given  in  the  public  schools,  as  a  form 
of  intolerable  proselytizing  to  which  they  will  not  sub- 
ject their  children.  It  is  my  frank  opinion  in  this  mat- 
ter that  the  objection  of  the  Jew  to  his  educational 
exclusion  is,  in  most  cases,  a  matter  of  roubles  and 
copecks.  In  the  public  schools  he  does  not  have  to  pay, 
in  the  private  he  does. 

The  selection  of  the  2-5%  causes  many  amusing  inci- 
dents.   Authorities  who  happen  to  have  no  sympathy 


78       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTEPPRETATION 

for  their  Semitic  fellows  will  select  the  permitted  per- 
centage from  the  top  of  the  list — skim  off  the  alpha- 
betical cream,  as  it  were.  Hence  in  many  towns  there 
is  a  great  rush  to  change  names  about  the  time  that  the 
sons  are  ready  for  school ;  you  find  Zambriskies  becom- 
ing Abramovitches  over  night ! 

There  are  sixteen  Cherta  Osedlosti  or  lines  of  settle- 
ment in  which  Jews  are  permitted  to  reside;  these  in- 
clude Poland,  where  the  Jews  may  live  wherever  they 
choose.  The  rule  governing  the  Pale  does  not  apply 
to  non-Talmudical  Jews,  nor  to  dentists,  druggists, 
merchants  of  the  first  and  second  guilds,  nor  to  those 
who  have  a  university  education  or  its  equivalent,  nor 
to  descendants  of  soldiers  who  fought  under  Nicholas 
I.  In  other  words,  only  the  lower  class  Jews  are  re- 
stricted to  the  Pale. 

Here  again  is  a  situation  that  Americans  may  find 
difficult  to  understand  until  they  find  a  parallel  in  their 
own  country.  That  parallel  can  be  found  in  the  "Save 
New  York"  Movement.  During  the  past  year  mer- 
chants of  New  York  City  with  business  on  Fifth  Ave- 
nue have  become  alarmed  at  the  unprecedented  number 
of  manufacturing  lofts  creeping  up  into  the  better  shop- 
ping districts  of  that  avenue.  In  order  to  "save  New 
York,"  to  save  their  business,  they  inaugurated  a  move- 
ment to  restrict  factories  of  this  sort  to  a  zone.  The 
factories  were  objectionable  for  two  reasons;  they  low- 
ered the  value  of  property  and  at  noontimes  they 
flooded  the  pavements  with  sweat-shop  workers — Jews 
to  a  man — whose  congregating  there  made  it  both  trou- 
blesome and  offensive  to  desirable  shoppers  in  that 
neighborhood.     So  the  Fifth  Avenue  merchants  have 


THE  THINGS  HE  REVOLTS  AGAINST        79 

established  a  Pale  beyond  which  sweat-shops  cannot 
pass.  They  have  even  gone  further;  in  order  to  en- 
force the  Pale  they  have  agreed  to  boycott  those  manu- 
facturers who  do  not  respect  the  required  limits. 

Were  this  action  taken  in  Russia  to-day,  to-morrow 
our  papers  would  be  full  of  alarming  reports  on  the 
cruel  discrimination  against  Jews.  As  it  happens  in 
America,  we  call  it  "saving  New  York."  New  York 
merchants  object  no  more  to  the  desirable  Jews  than 
does  the  Russian,  but  they  do  seriously  fear  the  com- 
mercial and  real  estate  decline  that  inevitably  results 
in  a  neighborhood  on  the  swarming  there  of  Semitic 
proletarians. 

There  is  another  word  that  Americans  have  become 
accustomed  to  in  reports  from  Russia.  I  refer  to 
pogrom.  A  pogrom  is  not  necessarily  anti-Jewish;  it 
is  any  kind  of  a  riot.  Thus,  in  one  day — October  18th, 
1905 — pogroms  took  place  in  200  cities,  a  counter- 
revolution against  all  revolutionists — Russian,  Jewish 
or  Tartar,  conducted  by  mobs  and  directed  by  the 
Black  Hundred,  the  reactionary  society.  During  the 
troublous  times  of  1902-7,  40%  of  the  revolutionists 
were  Jews  (in  some  districts  90%!),  which  accounts 
for  many  of  the  subsequent  riots  against  them,  for  the 
Jews  more  than  once  have  exploited  the  mou]ik  to 
attain  their  own  political  ends.  "Jew-baiting,"  on  the 
other  hand,  is  a  thoroughly  despicable  practice,  con- 
demned by  all  Russians  of  standing  as  a  custom  that 
does  more  harm  to  Russia  in  one  hour  than  she  can 
undo  in  a  year. 

The  pogrom  is  no  more  defensible  than  any  other 
riot,  much  less  so  when  it  arises  out  of  a  corner  case 
of  "Jew-baiting"  by  loafers.     But  because  Jews  have 


8o       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

suffered  in  the  consequent  riots  and  in  counter  revolu- 
tions is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  they  were  wholly 
exonerated  of  blame.  The  Jew  is  just  as  capable  of 
provoking  popular  fury  as  any  other  mortal.  If  the 
blow  falls  where  his  head  happens  to  be,  the  blow  is 
also  falling  where  there  happen  to  be  the  heads  of  both 
innocent  and  guilty  Christians. 

The  practice  of  the  pogrom  has  its  roots  deep  in  the 
race  of  Russia.  The  Cossacks  have  always  been  the 
sworn  foes  of  the  Jew,  or  of  anything,  for  that  matter, 
that  is  not  Orthodox.  It  is  a  racial  hatred,  a  racial 
distrust,  a  racial  fear.  Some  of  it  is  caused  by  commer- 
cial jealousy;  most  of  it  is  savagely  primitive.  In 
only  two  countries  under  the  sun  does  racial  hate  take 
such  violent  forms — in  Russia  and  America.  And, 
after  reading  accounts  of  our  lynching  bees,  can  one 
blame  the  Russ  for  commenting  on  our  inconsistency 
in  criticizing  him  for  his  pogroms? 

Russia  owes  a  great  deal  to  the  Jews  and  she  will 
never  forget  her  debt.  They  are  among  her  bravest 
fighters — 250,000  of  them.  They  have  contributed 
musicians,  scientists,  authors,  merchant  princes  and 
scholars  to  her  ranks  of  great  men.  But — and  this  it 
is  only  fair  to  remember — there  have  been  other  great 
men  in  Russia  beside  Jews,  just  as  there  are  other  prob- 
lems beside  the  Jewish  problem. 

Foreign  writers  invariably  over-estimate  the  serious- 
ness of  the  Jewish  situation,  just  as  writers  foreign  to 
America  over-estimate  the  negro  problem  and  Tam- 
many Hall.  Were  America  as  bad  as  it  is  painted,  we 
would  be  wholly  occupied  doing  two  things ;  suppress- 
ing and  lynching  negroes  and  prosecuting  grafter  poli- 


THE  THINGS  HE  REVOLTS  AGAINST         81 

ticians;  and  these  would  constitute  the  sum  total  of 
our  worries. 

The  Jewish  situation  is  only  the  smallest  of  a  score- 
odd  problems  that  adolescent  Russia  is  trying  to  solve ; 
moreover,  it  is  mainly  a  sectional  problem,  just  as  is 
the  negro  question.  Out  of  a  total  population  of  182,- 
000,000  souls,  the  Jews  represent  but  4.05%.  There 
are  more  dissenters  in  Russia  than  Jews  and,  until  the 
Edict  of  Toleration,  their  existence  was  no  more  se- 
cure than  the  Jews'.  Why  then  paint  the  Jews  as 
fighting  for  their  life  against  Russia,  or  Russia  as  fight- 
ing for  her  life  against  the  Jews?  Russia  is  doing 
quite  the  opposite — she  is  speeding  them  to  our  shores  I 

What  Russia  has  been  fighting  for  her  very  life 
against  are  the  Germans. 


VII 


When  he  said  that  Peter  the  Great  opened  a  window 
on  Europe  for  Russia  to  look  through  and  learn  how 
to  conduct  her  household,  Pushkin  spoke  conserva- 
tively.   Peter  flung  open  a  door,  a  wide  door. 

Up  to  that  time  the  number  of  unassimilated  for- 
eigners in  Russia  was  negligible.  Greeks  had  come  in 
at  the  time  of  Ivan  Hi's  marriage  with  Sophia,  and 
so  had  some  Italians,  for  Sophia  was  educated  in  Rome 
and  held  a  warm  spot  in  her  heart  for  the  sons  of  Italia. 

The  door  that  opened  in  the  reign  of  Peter  the  Great 
disclosed  Russia  as  a  possible  market  for  exploitation 
and  commerce.  Germans  came  and  English,  some 
French,  some  Swedish  and  some  Scotch.  You  still  en- 
counter Russians  with  very  English  and  Scottish  names, 
descendants  of  these  first  settlers,  who  know  no  word 


82       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

of  English.  The  same  can  be  said  of  the  descendants 
of  the  early  German  settlers  who  came  to  Moscow, 
started  the  first  foreign  quarter  of  that  city,  built  the 
first  theater  and  laid  the  foundations  of  Russian  dra- 
matic arts. 

Until  1915  one  found  a  great  scattering  of  Germans 
throughout  the  Empire,  who  were  totally  unabsorbed 
and  obviously  in  Russia  for  none  other  than  commer- 
cial purposes  together,  of  course,  with  those  espionage 
capacities  in  which  all  German  commercial  agents 
serve  the  Fatherland.  Consequently  one  makes  a  re- 
markable discovery  in  visiting  Russia;  he  can  travel 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Empire  and,  unless  he 
goes  great  distances  from  the  railroads  and  towns,  Ger- 
man will  carry  him  everywhere.  French  and  Polish 
are  found  among  the  upper  classes;  English  rarely,  save 
in  the  case  of  a  traveled  merchant  or  an  officer  who  will 
have  a  reading  acquaintance  with  it.  But  in  German 
all  classes  of  any  consequence  have  a  good  ground- 
ing. This  was  necessary.  If  one  wanted  to  conduct 
business  he  had  to  speak  German  I  And  therein  lies 
the  story  of  the  quiet,  steady  Prussian  invasion  of  Rus- 
sia. For  the  past  century  the  Germans  have  had  Rus- 
sia hypnotized.  For  300  years  they  have  guided  the 
hand  of  the  Government.  Only  during  the  past  two 
years  have  the  people  awakened  to  this  fact. 

It  would  require  a  goodly-sized  volume  to  tell  in  de- 
tail the  entire  story  of  Germany  in  Russia.  In  lieu 
of  that  we  can  only  note  here  some  of  the  salient  points 
of  the  situation. 

The  founding  of  the  new  capital  in  the  north,  St. 
Petersburg,  attracted  hosts  of  gentlemen  adventurers, 
who  lost  no  time  in  getting  into  the  graces  of  those  in 


THE  THINGS  HE  REVOLTS  AGAINST         83 

power  and  in  placing  their  hands  on  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment. These  foreigners,  mainly  Germans,  gained  a 
predominant  power.  Intermarriage  with  German 
dynasties  also  sealed  the  tie  of  blood  relationship. 
Barons  of  the  Baltic  Provinces  began  to  come  into  their 
own.  Learned  Germans  acquired  high  posts  in  the  uni- 
versities and  academies.  By  the  time  of  the  Empress 
Ann  (1730-1740)  German  influence  over  the  Russian 
Government  had  grown  to  such  proportions  that  the 
favorite  of  the  Empress  was  a  German,  Biron,  who 
directed  an  unrelenting  prosecution  of  all  who  ob- 
jected to  German  rule.  It  is  one  of  the  startling  con- 
tradictions of  Russian  history  that  administrative  exile 
to  Siberia — among  the  darkest  pages  of  Russia's  story 
— was  first  instituted  by  a  German  for  Russians  who 
were  anti-German  I 

Catherine  the  Great,  who  while  herself  a  Prussian 
was  in  many  ways  one  of  the  most  Russian  of  Russian 
monarchs,  showed  a  decided  weakness  for  Germans. 
She  imported  great  colonies  of  German  farmers  to 
teach  the  Russian  peasants  the  arts  of  agriculture  and, 
to  make  their  stay  pleasant,  gave  each  man  160  acres 
of  the  best  land  free  of  taxes,  duties  and  military  serv- 
ice, and  granted  the  colonies  the  privilege  of  self-gov- 
ernment. 

Alexander  I,  a  dreamer  and  idealist,  sought  his  ideal 
for  Russia  in  German  manners  and  customs.  His  Holy 
Alliance  was  little  more  than  a  promise  of  Russian  help 
to  Austria  and  Prussia  in  the  furthering  of  their  dreams 
of  empire.  It  was  Alexander  I  who,  on  asking  the 
great  General  Yermolov  what  reward  he  desired  for 
his  services  to  the  State,  was  given  the  amazing  reply, 


84       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

"To  be  promoted  German ;  rewards  would  then  follow 
of  themselves."  ^ 

Nicholas  I,  Alexander's  successor,  saw  only  one  way 
for  Russia  to  improve — by  a  wholesale  adoption  of 
German  methods.  This  resulted  in  a  great  growth  of 
the  bureaucratic  power,  especially  in  the  power  of  the 
Baltic  Barons.  In  fact,  so  thoroughly  did  Nicholas 
believe  in  German  methods  and  Germans  generally 
that  when  charges  of  fraud  were  brought  against  two 
of  them  he  dismissed  the  case,  saying,  "They  being 
Germans  could  not  have  committed  such  a  crime."  The 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  in  this  reign  and  in  the 
early  years  of  the  reign  of  Alexander  II  was  a  German 
by  the  name  of  Nesselrode,  who  never  in  the  course  of 
his  life  took  the  trouble  to  learn  Russian  I  From  that 
time  on  until  the  reign  of  Alexander  III,  the  present 
emperor's  immediate  predecessor,  German  was  the 
language  of  the  Russian  diplomatic  circle  and  of  diplo- 
matic correspondence. 

German  colonization  of  Russia  began  to  assume  seri- 
ous proportions  during  the  reign  of  Alexander  III,  and 
the  diplomatic  relations  of  Russia  with  powers  other 
than  Germany  took  on  a  new  character.  During  the 
reign  of  the  present  emperor  Prussian  statesmen  have 
time  and  again  guided  the  course  of  the  Russian  Gov- 
ernment. Prussian  influence  is  discernible  behind  the 
Russo-Japanese  War;  it  attempted  to  arouse  bitter 
feeling  against  France — even  threatening  war  when 
the  French  Entente  was  proposed.  The  Entente  was 
consummated,  and  Germany  forced  to  accomplish  her 
ends  by  other  means. 

*  Quoted  in  Russia  and  Democracy.    By  G.  de  Wesselitsky.     Page 
22.    New  York,  191 6. 


THE  THINGS  HE  REVOLTS  AGAINST         85 

At  this  time  started  the  systematic  colonization  of 
the  frontier  provinces  of  Russia — the  Vistula  region, 
the  Baltic  and  southwest  Russia.  Colonies  were 
planted  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  strategic 
points — railroads,  bridges  and  such.  Large  German 
syndicates  bought  up  the  estates  of  Russian  nobles  and 
sold  the  land  to  German  farmers,  who  developed  it 
with  cheap  Russian  labor.  The  commerce  of  the  towns 
also  fell  into  German  hands.  These  various  phases  of 
the  German  invasion  culminated  in  the  Russo-German 
commercial  treaty,  which  provides  for  Russia's  sup- 
plying Germany  with  raw  materials  at  a  low  rate  and 
receiving  them  back  in  the  manufactured  form  at  a 
high  rate.  As  a  consequence  of  this  invasion,  the  fron- 
tiers of  Russia  to  the  West  were  surrounded  by  peoples 
alien  in  sympathy  to  the  country,  many  of  whom  were 
Teutonic  spies;  the  industries  were  crippled  and  the 
commerce  was  at  the  mercy  of  German  merchants. 

Germany  played  well  her  role  in  Russia.  She  con- 
trolled the  press  of  the  country  to  such  an  extent  that, 
if  a  newspaper  printed  any  articles  with  anti-German 
sentiments,  it  was  forthwith  censored  out  of  existence. 
As  for  the  news  to  foreign  lands,  that  was  wholly  in 
German  hands.  Berlin  is  the  news-distributing  center 
for  countries  to  the  East,  and  German  officials  con- 
trolled what  was  sent  out  from  Russia  to  the  world. 
Reports  of  uprisings  were  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
fact;  many  were  manufactured  out  of  whole  cloth. 
When  news  favorable  to  Russia  came  along,  the  Ber- 
lin censors  quietly  quashed  it.  Until  the  war  started 
the  good  reports  of  Russia  were  mostly  in  German 
wastebaskets. 

With  the  opening  of  the  war  the  Russian  people 


86       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

awakened  to  the  singular  fact  that  their  Government, 
their  industries,  their  banks,  their  schools,  their  thea- 
ters, their  papers  and  magazines,  their  shops  and  many 
of  their  farms  were  German  or  Germanized.  In  the 
early  months  of  the  war  the  Government  was  crippled 
because  of  the  preponderance  of  Germans  and  Pro- 
Germans  in  it.  Many  were  still  there,  even  after 
two  years  and  a  half  of  war.  Fortunately  their  situa- 
tion was  far  from  pleasant.  They  were  obliterated  by 
the  recent  over-night  revolution. 

The  great  economic  and  military  weakness  of  Russia 
today  lies  in  the  fact  that  she  has  depended  on  Ger- 
many for  far  too  many  things.  If  she  is  to  attain  her 
majority  among  the  powers,  she  must  shake  herself 
free  of  the  German  habit.  Certainly,  if  she  is  to  main- 
tain her  standing  with  France  and  England  she  can 
no  longer  truckle  to  German  influence  and  German  or- 
ders, her  revolutions  can  no  longer  be  started  at  the 
whim  of  the  German  ambassador,  nor  the  wheels  of 
her  industries  stilled  because  German  merchants  wished 
them  stilled.  It  is  far  more  important  for  the  Russian 
people  to  revolt  against  the  German  in  their  midst 
than  against  the  bureaucracy  as  a  system  or  the  Jew 
as  a  turbulent  political  and  economic  factor. 


VIII 

Beyond  stirring  up  popular  interest,  it  is  a  debatable 
point  if  bloody  revolutions  in  Russia  succeed.  Cer- 
tainly, sporadic  nihilism  has  never  brought  permanent 
good  to  the  Government  or  the  people.  It  can  never 
be  the  expression  of  the  true  will  of  the  people,  and  its 
results — one   or  more   bureaucrats   less — ^have    never 


THE  THINGS  HE  REVOLTS  AGAINST         87 

helped  solve  any  problem;  in  fact,  have  worked  quite 
the  opposite,  for  invariably  have  they  caused  the 
clamps  of  reactionary  administration  to  be  applied 
tighter. 

If  one  reads  history  only  in  the  light  of  its  imme- 
diate causes  and  effects,  the  revolutionary  troubles  of 
1902-7  did  bear  fruit  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Douma.  Looking  across  the  grand  panorama  of  Rus- 
sian history  it  appears,  as  was  noted  at  the  beginning 
of  this  chapter,  more  as  a  reversion  to  a  type  with 
which  the  early  Slavs  were  well  acquainted. 

The  purpose  of  a  revolution  is  to  start  something 
in  action  rather  than  to  endow  it  with  strength  to 
perpetuate  that  action.  It  is  a  clearing  of  the  slate, 
a  forced  balancing  of  the  books.  Although  quite  dif- 
ferent from  reform.,  it  is  logical  to  expect  reforms  to 
follow  on  revolutions. 

In  Russia  this  is  not  necessarily  the  case.  The  slate 
is  rarely  cleaned,  the  books  rarely  balanced.  Once 
popular  wrath  has  subsided,  but  few  are  interested 
enough  to  carry  on  the  reforms  to  a  definite  working 
stage.  Revolution  in  Russia  has  invariably  been  fol- 
lowed by  a  period  of  reaction;  not  that  the  revolution 
has  been  broken,  but  the  interest  of  the  people  has  been 
dispelled.  Heretofore,  invariably,  has  the  substantial 
framework  of  reform  government  come  from  above, 
the  constructive  work  of  liberal  aristocrats. 

Russian  revolutions  have  lacked  practical  programs. 
They  have  also  lacked  a  unified  purpose  and — what 
finally  won  the  day  for  the  French  Revolution — the 
support  of  a  middle  class,  the  backing  of  a  great  urban 
proletariat.  This  proletariat  Russia  is  only  beginning 
to  develop.     The  wide  gulf  between  the  nobility — 


88       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

which  still  numbers  15  to  every  1,000  of  the  population 
— and  the  peasantry — which  bulks  80%  of  the  whole — 
is  gradually  being  bridged  by  a  class  of  industrial  work- 
ers and  shopkeepers.  Fundamentally  an  agricultural 
nation,  Russia  suddenly  discovered  in  this  war  the 
necessity  for  industries  and  found,  at  the  same  time, 
that  she  possessed  the  nucleus  of  a  new  and  vital  class. 

The  smoke  of  Industry  on  Russia's  horizon  is  her 
pillar  of  cloud  by  day.  Her  pillar  of  fire  by  night  is 
that  of  the  burning  torches  of  progressive  nations  with 
which  she  has  been  forced  into  close  fellowship  by  the 
war. 

The  darkness  of  the  Russian  people  will  be  further 
dispelled  by  the  dynamics  of  borrowed  dollars.  The 
situation  is  simple.  The  Russian  Government  will 
need  money  after  the  war,  and  she  will  be  obliged 
to  borrow  it  from  France  and  England  unless  she  arbi- 
trarily wills  to  undo  all  the  good  that  this  war  has  done 
by  again  subjugating  herself  to  Germany  and  German 
interests.  Neither  France  nor  England  will  be  in  a  posi- 
tion to  permit  the  strict  reactionary  interpretation  so 
long  as  they  are  leagued  with  Russia  against  the  Cen- 
tral Powers.    Russia  will  have  to  come  up  to  standard. 

This  was  the  choice  that  the  Russian  Government 
faced  until  March,  1917.  Then  suddenly,  almost 
over-night,  plans  that  had  been  formulating  for  months 
were  completed  and  the  leaders  of  the  people  struck 
for  freedom.  It  is  too  early  to  say  what  will  come 
out  of  the  chaos.  The  Romanov  dynasty  sees  its  end 
and  the  people  are  beholding  the  liberty  they  have 
been  preparing  for. 

The  Russian  people  have  reverted  to  a  democracy. 


CHAPTER  V 


"this  is  the  faith  of  the  fathers" 


REGARDING  any  church  there  are  two  points 
to  note :  spiritual  facts  and  statistics. 
The  statistics  are  all  the  more  necessary  in 
considering  a  state  church  such  as  Orthodoxy.  In  that 
circumstance  the  Church  is  an  economic  factor,  an 
owner  of  lands,  temporal  power  and  moneys.  It  must 
be  looked  upon,  then,  as  a  corporation. 

The  world  boasts  but  one  great  international  ec- 
clesiastical corporation,  the  Church  of  Rome,  which 
is  not  restricted  by  the  bounds  of  empire  nor  limited 
to  any  one  tongue.  The  Orthodox  Church  of  Russia 
and  the  Church  of  England  are  corporations  subsidiary 
to  their  respective  states,  and,  in  the  main,  labor  only 
in  those  countries  where  their  tongues  are  spoken.  They 
are  national  churches  with  national  spheres  of  influence. 
Orthodox  Russians,  of  course,  do  not  speak  of  their 
Church  as  a  State  Church;  it  is  called  Gospodst- 
voyustchaya  Tzerkov^  the  Predominating  Church, 
This  is  only  juggling  with  words,  however,  for,  from 
ever)^  possible  viewpoint.  Orthodoxy  is  an  arm  of  the 
Government. 

Orthodoxy  became  a  corporation  subsidiary  to  the 
Russian  State  during  the  reign  of  Peter  the  Great. 
Previous  to  that  time  it  had  existed  as  an  offshoot  of 
Byzantium.    It  has  always  been  Byzantine  in  its  forms. 

89 


90       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

The  influence  of  the  West  came  to  Russia  through  the 
State ;  the  influence  of  the  East  has  clung  to  it  through 
the  activities  of  the  Church.  It  is  the  most  persistently 
pro-Slav  force  in  Russia,  and  consequently  is  one  of 
the  means  by  which  the  individuality  of  Russia  will 
be  preserved. 

Of  the  three  ecclesiastical  corporations,  Orthodoxy 
possesses  the  greatest  range  of  temporal  power ;  the  em- 
pire of  the  Orthodox  Church  is  the  Empire  of  Russia, 
which  is  one-sixth  of  the  earth's  land  surface.  Since  it 
is  not  a  missionary  church,  any  activities  outside  the 
bounds  of  that  empire  can  be  interpreted  only  as  a  ful- 
filling of  its  legitimate  stewardship,  a  shepherding  of 
its  flock  in  foreign  parts. 

Because  of  this  immense  sphere  of  influence,  and  be- 
cause of  its  unyielding  stand  in  matters  of  dogma. 
Orthodoxy  lays  claim  to  being  the  one  church  that  will 
eventually  lead  the  universe  to  salvation.  As  the 
antiphon  in  the  liturgy  runs,  "This  is  the  Faith  of 
the  Fathers.  This  is  the  Faith  that  will  overcome  the 
World." 


By  the  middle  of  the  17th  Century  the  Church  had 
developed  a  pronounced  spirit  of  independence.  Al- 
though it  recognized  the  niotherhood  of  Byzantium, 
the  power  of  its  prelates,  growing  with  the  power  of 
the  cities,  emboldened  the  Church  to  make  a  stand  for 
itself.  It  assumed  the  spiritual  suzerainty  of  all  Slav- 
dom. "The  organic  vice  of  the  old  Russian  Church 
community,"  says  Kluchevsky,^  "lay  in  the  fact  that 

^  A  History  of  Russia.    By  V.  O.  Kluchevsky.    Vol.  III.    Page  307. 
New  York,  191 1. 


"THE  FAITH  OF  THE  FATHERS"  91 

it  considered  itself  the  one  true  Orthodox  community 
in  the  world  and  its  conception  of  the  Deity  the  ex- 
clusive regular  one;  that  it  put  forward  as  the  creator 
of  the  universe  a  peculiarly  Russian  god,  who  belonged 
to  and  was  known  to  no  one  else;  and  that  it  elevated 
to  the  ranks  of  the  Church  Universal  a  purely  local 
church." 

To  maintain  such  a  position  two  conditions  were 
necessary;  a  solidarity  of  belief  and  a  uniformity  of 
practice  throughout  the  ecclesiastical  empire.  This 
state  of  affairs  did  not  exist,  however.  Each  section 
affected  some  variation  in  the  rite;  moreover,  the 
ritual  was  anything  but  uniform  throughout  the 
Church. 

In  1666-7  Nikon,  Patriarch  of  Moscow,  then  head 
of  the  Church,  ordered  the  ritual  standardized  and 
completed  plans  for  a  translation  of  the  Gospels  into 
the  vernacular.  Both  reforms  met  with  immediate 
opposition.  Local  usage  refused  to  be  rooted  out  on 
order.  Those  who  crossed  themselves  with  three  fin- 
gers were  not  willing  to  concede  the  ritual  point  to 
those  who  used  two.  As  Nikon  held  authority,  the 
bulk  of  Orthodoxy  followed  the  new  order,  but  there 
was  an  appreciable  body  that  clung  to  the  old. 

This  break  in  the  ranks  of  Orthodoxy  was  a  schism 
rather  than  a  heresy.  In  dogma  the  Raskolniks^  or 
Old  Believers,  hold  the  same  faith  as  the  Orthodox  and 
their  churches  are  very  much  alike.  They  are  also  loyal 
and  patriotic  to  the  Empire,  as  witness  many  of  the 
Cossacks  who  are  Raskolniks.  From  the  first  they  suf- 
fered persecution,  for  Orthodoxy  has  made  every  effort 
to  drive  these  seceders  into  the  fold  and  keep  them 
there.    In  the  past  few  years  a  movement  for  the  con- 


92       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

solidation  of  the  Old  Believers  with  Orthodoxy  has 
been  gaining  ground  and  may,  after  the  war,  bring 
about  the  devoutly  wished-for  unity  in  Russian  Chris- 
tendom. 

Scarcely  had  the  schism  become  permanent  than 
Peter  the  Great  came  to  the  throne  and  in  1721  intro- 
duced another  element  into  Orthodoxy  by  placing  the 
administration  of  the  Church  on  a  basis  that  would 
prevent  it  from  working  contrary  to  the  State. 
Hitherto  the  prestige  and  power  of  the  Patriarch  of 
Moscow  had  constantly  caused  friction  with  the  throne. 
There  was  a  two-fold  monarchy — the  Tsar  and  the 
Patriarch.  Peter  took  the  power  from  the  Patriarch 
and  entrusted  it  to  an  administrative  council,  the  Holy 
Synod,  at  the  head  of  which  was  the  Tsar's  representa- 
tive, a  layman  who  held  the  position  of  chief  pro- 
curator. This  Synod  has  ever  since  been  the  directing 
force  of  religious  affairs  in  Russia. 

The  Synod  consists  to-day  of  the  three  metropolitans 
of  Moscow,  Petrograd  and  Kiev,  the  Archbishop  of 
the  Caucasus  and  several  other  bishops.  The  procura- 
tor, representing  the  Tsar,  dictates  what  shall  be  the 
subjects  discussed  by  the  council,  and  in  what  ways  it 
shall  function.  The  appointments  and  depositions  of 
bishops  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Synod,  who  in  turn 
appoint  and  remove  the  parish  clergy  and  the  abbots  of 
monasteries.  Thus  is  the  administrative  system  linked 
with  the  Government  and  the  lowest  parish  pope  desig- 
nated as  a  representative  of  Russia's  ecclesiastical  em- 
pire. It,  moreover,  controls  the  disbursement  of  the 
income  of  the  Church,  which  amounts  to  over  $50?- 
000,000  annually.  For  the  Church,  in  some  ways,  is 
richer  than  the  State. 


"THE  FAITH  OF  THE  FATHERS"  93 

II 

The  Orthodox  Church  is  an  immensely  wealthy  cor- 
poration. In  addition  to  the  miles  of  land  that  it  pos- 
sesses, its  monasteries  own  lucrative  estates  in  various 
parts  of  the  Empire.  The  Church  of  England  in  the 
height  of  its  monastic  glory  knew  no  such  wealth  as 
the  Russian  Church  knows  today. 

Unquestionably  the  time  will  come  when  the  Church 
will  have  to  make  an  accounting  of  its  stewardship  of 
all  this  material  wealth.  Whether  it  will  come  through 
force  or  by  its  own  volition,  it  is  difficult  to  say.  Like 
the  Government,  the  Church  must  eventually  come  up 
to  standard,  if  it  is  to  maintain  its  prestige  with  a 
people  fast  becoming  enlightened.  It  is  my  private 
opinion  that  the  Russian  Church  will  not  experience 
a  sudden  revolution  either  from  the  side  of  the  Govern- 
ment or  from  the  people.  Apart  from  the  reforms  of 
Nikon  it  has  never  known  any  such  break  as  the 
Reformation;  in  fact,  the  Reformation  was  scarcely 
heard  of  in  Russia.  A  Protestant  reform  is  out  of  the 
question.  So  for  that  matter  is  the  disestablishment  of 
the  Church.  The  way  it  will  come  up  to  standard  will 
probably  be  along  gradual  lines — evolution  within  its 
own  ranks,  the  distribution  of  its  lands  among  the  peo- 
ple, and  a  more  liberal  interpretation  of  its  doctrines. 

The  Edict  of  Toleration  (1905)  showed  the  extent 
to  which  Orthodoxy's  ranks  were  "papered,"  and  gave 
an  indication  of  what  will  happen  once  liberal  religious 
views  take  root  in  the  Russian  soul.  Although  it  will 
be  a  sad  day  for  Russia's  individuality  as  a  nation,  the 
time  will  unquestionably  come  when  either  the  Church 
will  be  passed  by  on  the  other  side,  or  will  have  ac- 


94       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

quired  such  new  blood  as  to  carry  it  on  as  the  leader  of 
the  people. 

Reform  is  fast  growing  in  the  Church.  One  of  the 
most  significant  movements  of  recent  years  is  that  tend- 
ing toward  legislation  which  will  permit  a  parish  to 
elect  its  own  pastor.  At  present  the  bishop  of  the 
diocese  appoints  the  priest  to  the  living  and  the  parish- 
ioners have  nothing  to  say  in  the  matter.  But  there 
are  hundreds  of  localities  where  the  need  for  the  right 
priest  is  felt  and  the  desire  to  call  a  certain  man  to  the 
locality  is  a  live  issue  with  the  inhabitants.  Under 
the  existing  regime  the  priest  is,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, a  representative  of  the  Ecclesiastical  State.  If 
he  were  chosen  by  the  people,  he  would  be  their  expres- 
sion of  ecclesiastical  self-government. 

In  addition  to  this  movement  is  one  which  also 
promises  better  things.  There  is  a  growing  interest 
in  sociological  problems  in  the  Russian  villages.  Here- 
tofore the  interest  has  come  from  the  intelligentia  who 
went  among  the  people ;  now  the  people  themselves  are 
being  quickened  to  an  interest  in  the  welfare  of  their 
fellows.  Collective  and  individual  philanthropy  tend- 
ing toward  the  prevention  of  poverty  and  disease  is 
becoming  a  part  of  the  Church's  interests  in  the  small 
towns.  The  parish  hall,  for  example,  is  no  longer  a 
great  novelty.  All  this,  of  course,  is  part  of  that  same 
movement  for  personal  betterment  which  found  expres- 
sion in  the  f?ioujik's  attitude  toward  the  vodka  traffic. 
The  difference  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  priests  are  here 
the  leaders  in  the  movement.  A  very  vivid  and  pic- 
turesque account  of  this  movement  among  the  clergy 
is  found  in  Potapenko's  novel,  "A  Russian  Priest," 
the  tale  of  the  effect  of  the  humanitarian  efforts  of  a 


"THE  FAITH  OF  THE  FATHERS"  95 

young  priest,   Cyril   Ignatievitch,  in  a   secluded  but 
priest-ridden  parish. 

Ill 

To  interpret  the  Church  of  the  present  time  one  must 
understand  its  labors  and  potentialities.  The  poten- 
tialities consist  in  a  complete  control,  under  the  Gov- 
ernment, of  all  matters  of  dogma  and  practice.  Its 
labors,  apart  from  the  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ments and  the  upholding  of  the  Christian  faith,  are 
along  three  lines,  viz.:  political  activities,  education 
and  the  Christianizing  of  the  frontiers  of  the  Empire. 

The  political  activities  of  the  Church  may  be  defined 
as  an  effort  to  hedge  itself  with  such  bureaucratic  sup- 
port as  to  resist  and  ward  off  attack  against  its  tem- 
poral power.  Yet  there  are  hosts  of  priests  and  prelates 
in  Russia  to-day  who  serve  their  consciences  better  than 
they  serve  their  king.  There  has  often  been  open  sym- 
pathy with  the  people,  and  more  than  one  priest  has 
been  unfrocked  and  exiled  for  his  liberal  views. 

At  the  last  counting,  83.4%  of  the  total  scholastic 
body  in  Russia  attended  the  primary  schools  which, 
for  the  most  part,  are  controlled  and  conducted  by  the 
Church.  The  curriculum  consists  of  the  three  R's,  do- 
mestic science  for  the  girls  and  the  rudiments  of  bee- 
keeping and  farming  for  the  boys,  together  with  gener- 
ous doses  of  religious  instruction. 

This  control  of  primary  education  has  logical  rea- 
sons. Both  Orthodoxy  and  the  Roman  Church  hold 
that  the  foundations  of  faith  must  be  laid  in  childhood 
if  a  man  is  expected  to  turn  to  it  in  his  times  of  need 
and  at  death.  Hence  the  insistence  of  both  churches 
on  the  religious  instruction  of  the  young.    The  impos- 


96       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

sibility  of  enforcing  it,  on  the  other  hand,  is  one  of 
the  vital  weaknesses  of  Protestantism.  Eclectic  re- 
ligion does  not  "stand  up"  under  great  crises  or  dis- 
tress. Moreover,  if  the  Church  is  to  endure,  it  must 
constantly  be  training  the  new  race  of  believers.  The 
strength  of  Catholicism  both  East  and  West  lies  in 
the  future  generation. 

In  the  curricula  of  the  higher  schools  the  Church 
has  often  exercised  the  most  arbitrary  and  senseless 
authority,  dimming  the  light  of  truth  with  the  shadow 
of  prejudice.  Professors  and  instructors  who  are  in- 
clined to  disseminate  irreligious  or  heretical  ideas  are 
closely  watched  and  summarily  punished. 

The  activities  of  the  Church  in  education,  then,  are 
to  train  the  coming  generations  of  believers  and  to 
safeguard  the  faith  as  taught  to  the  people  today. 
There  is  still  a  third  activity — the  labors  on  the  fron- 
tiers of  Orthodoxy. 

IV 

A  ribbon  of  land,  in  some  regions  fifty  miles  wide, 
in  others  fifty  yards,  threads  its  way  from  the  Pacific, 
above  the  shoulder  of  the  Hermit  Kingdom,  and  across 
the  backbone  of  Manchuria.  On  the  fringe  of  the  Gobi 
Desert,  between  the  Mongol  and  Russian  vis-a-vis^ 
Maimatchin  and  Kiakhta,  it  narrows  to  a  brook  bed. 
Widening,  it  twists  thence  in  and  out  the  passes  of 
the  Altai,  and,  by  a  circuitous  southern  course  over 
sun-parched  steppe  and  forested  mountain  face,  finally 
reaches  the  Caspian,  Russia's  Asiatic  border. 

You  will  see  a  varied  lot  of  frontiers  if  you  travel 
extensively,  but  rarely  will  you  find  a  border  that 
voices  so  forcibly  the  methods  and  ideals  of  a  nation 


"THE  FAITH  OF  THE  FATHERS"  97 

as  does  that  strip  marking  the  edge  of  Muscovite  lord- 
ship. Studded  along  it,  like  buttons  on  a  lambrequin, 
stand  little  stockaded  forts,  each  with  its  equipment  of 
men  and  arms.  From  them,  by  day  and  by  night, 
tramp  stem-visaged  men  to  patrol  the  intervening 
stretches.  By  day  and  by  night  their  eyes  are  fixed 
on  the  southern  horizon — Mongolia,  Tibet,  Afghanis- 
tan and  Indiaward.  Mounted  and  afoot,  armed  for 
action  and  alarm,  they  form  a  veritable  picket  fence 
of  bayonets  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Caspian. 

These  soldiers  who  defend  the  farther  fringe  of  the 
Tsar's  kingdom  constitute  only  the  skirmishing  line  of 
a  greater  army.     Behind  the  soldiers  stand  the  priests. 

Until  you  have  seen  this  second  army  you  cannot 
comprehend  the  first.  Until  you  are  convinced  that 
Russia  has  assimilated  and  is  assimilating  more  and 
more  territory  that  she  may  bring  "His  saving  faith," 
as  she  understands  it,  to  all  nations,  you  will  not  fully 
grasp  the  raison  d'etre  of  Russian  arms.  "The  world 
policy  of  Russia  is  a  gradual  growth.  It  is  the  Chris- 
tian ideal.  The  expulsion  of  the  Turk,  the  conversion 
of  the  Asiatic  heathen,  world-wide  dominion  of  Rus- 
sian Orthodoxy,  are  nothing  more  than  the  realization 
of  Christ's  Kingdom  on  earth."  Incredulous  students 
of  international  politics  may  claim  that  the  Slavophils 
— Alexander  III,  Dostoevsky  and  their  kind — are  all 
dead,  their  dream  an  illusion  forever  shattered.  The 
reigning  Tsar,  however,  adheres  to  the  ideals  his  father 
set  up,  as  many  of  his  administrative  acts  prove,  and 
as  is  indicated  by  the  continent-cleaving  Asiatic  border 
to-day. 

Beneath  the  surface  of  the  main  channel  of  Russian 
endeavor  to-day  is  rolling,  silently,  with  irresistible, 


98       THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

impelling  force,  the  Slavophil  spirit.  Russians  look  to 
Constantinople  and  the  day  when  the  Cross  will  shine 
out  above  St.  Sophia.  It  is  to-day  the  dream  of  the 
wise  men  at  Petrograd,  it  is  the  dream  of  the  obscure 
village  priest  that,  through  the  Orthodox  Faith,  the 
world  will  be  converted  to  Christ.  And  these  doubters 
of  the  Filioque  have  set  before  themselves,  as  a  means 
to  attaining  that  end,  the  absorption  of  territory  in 
Asia  until  the  borders  of  the  Russian  Empire  shall  be 
contiguous  to  those  of  a  Christian-civilizing  power, 
British  India. 

In  the  '90's,  when  Manchuria  became  a  complement 
of  Eastern  Siberia  by  the  building  of  a  railroad,  an 
army  was  flung  across  it,  ostensibly  to  guard  the  line 
from  the  depredations  of  native  brigands.  But 
scarcely  had  these  soldiers  become  settled  in  their 
bastioned  forts  (you  can  still  see  them  to-day)  than  the 
fiat  went  forth  that  missionaries  of  faiths  other  than 
the  Orthodox  would  be  excluded  from  Manchuria. 
And  into  Manchuria  poured  the  Russian  priests — Mos- 
covy's  second  line  of  the  Church  Militant. 

It  is  obvious  that  Russia  is  determined  not  to  step 
aside  from  the  path  to  her  "clear-purposed  goal" — so 
forcibly  symbolized  by  her  troop-lined,  priest-guarded 
Asiatic  border — of  dispelling  national  and  racial  diver- 
gencies through  the  erection  above  them  of  the  Cross 
of  Orthodoxy.  The  war  may  have  put  the  movement 
in  abeyance,  but  the  desire  is  there  and  the  dream  is 
still  cherished  in  the  hearts  of  the  believers. 

But  have  these  frontiersmen  of  Orthodoxy  accom- 
plished their  purpose"?  The  answer  is  found  in  Man- 
churia to-day. 

At  Port  Arthur,  shortly  after  Russia  leased  that  sec- 


"THE  FAITH  OF  THE  FATHERS"  99 

tion,  were  laid  the  foundations  for  a  mighty  church. 
Men  and  machines  dragged  iron-stone  monoliths  and 
set  them  up  on  the  hillside.  Eighty  thousand  roubles 
($40,000)  were  sunk  in  the  foundations  alone.  A 
fortress  of  the  faith,  as  inaccessible  as  was  Tiger's  Tail 
on  the  heights  above,  was  to  be  this  church.  Slowly 
from  the  forest  of  scaffolding  reared  the  walls. 

Then  came  war  and  the  defeat  of  Kuropatkin  on  the 
Yalu.  Down  the  peninsula  streamed  the  Japanese 
army.  Behind  Tiger's  Tail  cowered  the  Russian  fleet, 
while  Togo  lay  without.  The  siege  guns  began  to 
belch,  and  into  that  quiet  pocket  of  the  Asiatic  coast- 
line was  hurled  the  awful  thunder  of  war.  For  eleven 
months  Japanese  shells  battered  against  the  founda- 
tions of  the  new  church,  showers  of  bullets  snipped  the 
scaffolding,  huge  projectiles  pierced  the  walls  and  nosed 
their  way  into  the  pavement  where  the  altar  was  to 
stand. 

On  January  2nd,  1905,  Stoessel  handed  his  sword 
to  Nogi;  ten  days  later  the  twenty-six  thousand  Rus- 
sian soldiers,  stripped  of  anns,  marched  out  from  the 
fortress.  In  their  midst  walked  the  soldiers  of  Rus- 
sia's second  army,  these  carrying  the  accoutrements  of 
their  warfare — the  sacred  vessels,  the  ikons^  the  books 
of  the  liturgy. 

Today  all  that  remains  of  what  was  to  have  been 
the  church  are  some  crumbling  ruins.  The  little  slant- 
eyed  Japanese  guide,  who  points  them  out,  says  with 
pride,  "No  use  now,  there  is  only  one  Russian  left  in 
Port  Arthur." 

To  the  eastward,  thirty  miles  over  the  hills,  lies 
Darien.  "Dalny"  the  Russians  called  it,  and  they  had 
great  plans  for  making  the  little  Chinese  port  a  mighty 


100     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

commercial  capital  in  the  Far  East.  Broad  streets  were 
laid  out,  and  a  civic  center  planned,  rows  of  substantial 
houses  ran  up,  the  harbor  was  dredged  and  wharves 
constructed.  As  the  crowning  glory,  a  big  cathedral 
was  erected  on  an  eminence  in  the  heart  of  town.  Then 
came  the  war.  With  scarcely  the  interchange  of  a  shot, 
Dalny  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Japanese. 

The  dawn  of  1905  brought  the  Russian  dream  for 
the  town  to  a  bitter  awakening.  The  Japanese  poured 
in  and  took  up  the  life  of  the  city.  Today  Darien  is 
booming,  with  trolley  cars  and  a  newspaper  in  English, 
with  office  buildings  and  an  electric  park,  fashioned 
after  the  manner  of  Coney  Island,  which  looks  out  over 
the  sapphire  waters  of  the  bay.  On  all  sides  buildings 
are  springing  up.  Each  boat  from  Japan  brings  a  fresh 
consignment  of  settlers.  Few  Russians  remain — a 
handful  of  merchants,  a  score  of  clerks  and  the  consul, 
who  lives  in  the  ugly  white  house  to  the  north  of  the 
town. 

Central  in  this  bustle  and  growth  stands  the  Rus- 
sian cathedral.  What  were  once  its  close-clipped  lawns 
are  now  waist-high  meadows  of  rank  weeds.  Far  over- 
head the  stay  cables  of  the  dome  cross,  rusted  and 
snapped,  swing  languidly  in  the  gentle  breeze  that 
blows  in  from  the  Pacific.  Attempt  to  enter  the 
grounds,  and  you  find  the  gates  chained.  Huge  pad- 
locks are  on  each  door.  .  .  .  Across  the  street  stands 
the  Yamato  Hotel,  one  of  those  smart,  up-to-date 
Japanese  hostel ries.  In  its  parlor  each  Sunday  morn- 
ing an  Anglican  pastor  gathers  about  him  the  resident 
Britons  and  prays  that  laborers  be  sent  forth  into  the 
harvest. 

Two  hundred  miles  north  of  Darien  threads  the  rib- 


"THE  FAITH  OF  THE  FATHERS"  loi 

bon  of  land  that  so  strikingly  defines  the  southern 
fringe  of  Russian  lordship  in  Manchuria.  There  stand 
her  soldiers.  There  stand  her  priests.  Though  the 
Treaty  of  Portsmouth  made  no  such  provision,  Russia 
withdrew  her  spiritual  forces  just  so  soon  as  her  sol- 
diers were  defeated. 

In  a  word,  Russia's  spiritual  conquests  abroad  de- 
pend on  her  victories  on  the  field  of  battle. 


Until  one  has  entered  a  Russian  church  he  can  have 
no  conception  of  the  profound  piety  of  the  Russian 
people.  Nor,  for  that  matter,  can  he  imagine  the  rich- 
ness of  the  glory  of  her  churches  and  the  meaning 
which  that  richness  symbolizes. 

Here  the  walls  without  and  within  are  frescoed  in 
all  manner  of  brilliant  colors.  There  is  nothing  somber 
about  the  buildings,  like  the  little  tin  Bethels  in  which 
one  is  often  obliged  to  worship  in  other  lands  more  ap- 
parently enlightened.  The  municipality,  the  Synod  or 
the  Zemstvo  will  erect  the  building,  but  the  free-will 
offerings  of  the  people  make  it  a  palace — even  the  hum- 
blest of  village  churches.  To  the  very  roof  beams  the 
walls  are  covered  with  ikons  (flat  religious  paintings, 
since  the  carved  figure  is  forbidden  by  Orthodoxy  as 
tending  toward  the  graven  image),  many  of  them  en- 
crusted with  jewels.  Lamps  and  candles  burn  before 
the  ikons^  the  shrines  and  altar  during  service.  At  the 
farther  end  of  the  church — which  is  always  the  eastern 
end — is  a  great  screen  or  ikonostas,  on  which  are  other 
ikons.  Before  it  hang  lamps  perpetually  burning. 
Double  doors,  or  the  Royal  Gates,  are  in  the  middle 


102     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

and  give  entrance  to  the  altar.  Behind  this  screen  the 
priest  retires  to  celebrate  the  most  sacred  parts  of  the 
Divine  Mysteries.^ 

In  the  air  is  the  dry  odor  of  stale  incense,  the  acrid 
tinge  of  gutted  candles  mixed  with  the  sweat  of  muddy 
boots  and  muddier  humanity — the  indescribable 
miasma  of  mob  religion. 

There  is  a  singular  democracy  about  the  services. 
Rich  and  poor,  high  and  lowly  rub  elbows,  paupers, 
princes,  gentlemen,  saints,  fools,  demi-mondes,  soldiers, 
intelligentia,  merchants,  old  folks  and  young,  men  in 

^Strictly  speaking,  the  Orthodox  church  is  divided  into  three  parts: 
(i)  The  sanctuary,  into  which  none  but  the  clergy  enter,  (2)  The 
nave,  reserved  for  the  congregation.  (3)  The  porch,  which  in  the 
ancient  church  was  occupied  by  catechumens  and  penitents,  but  now 
is  generally  occupied  by  a  table  in  charge  of  a  nun  where  tapers  and 
ikons  can  be  purchased. 

The  ikonosias  separates  the  sanctuary  from  the  nave.  Three  doors 
pierce  it,  two  of  them  constituting  the  Royal  Gates  mentioned  above. 
In  the  middle  of  the  sanctuary  stands  the  altar  vested  in  linen  and 
rich  brocade  and  bearing  the  ciborlura,  which  contains  the  Reserved 
Sacrament,  the  gospels  and  a  cross.  On  the  wall  behind  Is  a_  painting 
of  the  crucifixion  with  a  seven-branch  candlestick  before  it,  which 
is  lighted  during  service.  At  the  celebration  of  the  Divine  Mysteries, 
a  small  cloth  called  the  antimins  is  spread  on  the  altar  and  the  sacred 
vessels  placed  upon  it  covered  with  a  veil. 

The  north  side  of  the  sanctuary  is  known  as  the  Chapel  of  the 
Prothesis.  There  stands  the  table  of  oblations,  upon  which  the  sacred 
vessels  are  prepared  for  Mass.  The  south  side  of  the  sanctuary  is 
the  vestry.  The  floor  of  the  sanctuary  is  raised  above  the  level 
of  the  nave.  That  part  of  the  platform  immediately  before  the 
ikonostas  is  called  the  solea  and  is  occupied  by  the  choir;  in  the 
middle,  or  ambo,  stands  the  deacon  when  he  reads  the  Gospel. 

During  the  service  the  priest  and  deacon  wear  tunicles  over  their 
street  cassocks  and  put  maniples  upon  their  wrists.  The  priest  then 
places  about  his  neck  the  epitrachelion  or  stole,  and  over  that  a  cope 
called  the  pheloneon.  The  deacon  wears  an  orarion  or  scarf  on  his 
left  shoulder,  letting  it  hang  down  on  both  sides  save  during  the 
reading  of  the  suffrages,  when  he  holds  it  In  his  fingers,  and  during 
the  Mass,  when  he  binds  it  about  his  shoulders  in  the  form  of  a  cross. 

The  sacrament  is  concentrated  in  leavened  bread — a  point  of  de- 
parture from  the  Rom.an  and  Anglican  Churches,  and  the  wine  and 
water  are  mixed  in  the  chalice  at  the  Table  of  Oblations,  and  not 
at  the  altar,  a  second  point  of  departure.  The  gates  of  the  ikonostas 
are  closed  during  the  consecration  and  the  fracture  of  the  Host. 


"THE  FAITH  OF  THE  FATHERS"  103 

rude  sheepskin  kaftans  and  men  in  the  briUiant  decora- 
tions of  a  dozen  campaigns.  On  one  side  stand  the 
women,  on  the  other  stand  the  men.  There  are  no 
padded  pews  to  sink  into.  Orthodoxy  is  not  a  com- 
fortable religion.  You  stand  up  during  the  services  or 
kneel — which  is  in  accordance  with  the  decree  of  the 
First  Ecumenical  Council  of  Nicea — and  prostrate 
yourself  when  the  time  for  prostration  comes — pro- 
found prostration  to  the  very  floor,  even  though  you  are 
decrepit  or  obese.  I  have  seen  crippled  men  and  women 
who  could  scarcely  drag  themselves  up  the  church  steps, 
but  who  were  able  to  perform  the  most  profound  rever- 
ences when  once  they  entered  the  doors.  How  they 
did  it  I  cannot  say.  Russian  knees  may  be  more  lim- 
ber than  ours.  They  have  been  using  them  for  kneel- 
ing for  many  generations.  Perhaps,  like  the  amazing 
democracy  of  the  service  itself,  it  is  one  of  those  inde- 
finable spiritual  facts  of  Russia. 

As  is  generally  known,  the  music  of  the  services  is 
unaccompanied.  Male  voices  alone  lead  the  singing. 
There  is  also  absent  the  concert  atmosphere  one  gets  in 
some  of  our  aristocratic  churches  of  America.  Congre- 
gational singing  has  always  been  the  practice  of  Ortho- 
doxy. The  service  is  a  service  of  the  people,  and  save 
for  the  few  moments  when  he  is  behind  the  ikonostas 
for  the  consecration  in  the  Mass,  the  priest  is  always 
in  the  midst  of  his  people,  the  shepherd  of  his  flock. 

Confessions  are  made  right  in  the  open  church  in  the 
sight  of  the  entire  congregation,  not  in  the  comfortable 
security  of  a  confessional  box.  Truly,  it  is  a  religion 
of  the  people,  for  the  people  and  most  distinctly  by 
the  people. 

During  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  a  growth 


104     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

in  the  art  of  preaching  in  Russian  churches.  Whereas 
before  sermons  were  scarcely  heard,  they  are  now  being 
preached  in  a  majority  of  the  churches.  This  public 
desire  for  homilies — for  the  practice  arose  through  con- 
gregational requests  for  sermons — will  unquestionably 
result  in  the  better  education  of  the  clergy  as  a  whole. 


VI 

The  clergy  in  Russia  are  divided  into  two  bodies, 
the  black  or  monastic,  and  the  white  or  parish  popes. 
Between  the  two  is  drawn  a  deep  line  of  demarcation. 
The  former  comprise  the  executive  and  scholastic  body 
of  the  priesthood.  They  live  in  monasteries  which 
are  endowed  by  the  State,  and  although  they  are  dedi- 
cated to  the  rigorous  life  of  the  counsels,  they  have  not 
to  face  the  problems  of  food  and  drink,  shelter  and 
raiment.  To  say  that  they  lead  an  indolent  life  would 
be  libel.  They  are  the  cells  in  which  is  stored  the 
kinetic  spiritual  energy  of  the  Orthodox  Church. 
Among  them  have  been  and  are  many  humble  saints 
and  great  workers  of  miracles,  mystics  and  ascetics, 
whose  quiescent  energy  has  strengthened  the  pulse  of 
believers  throughout  the  Empire.  Their  material  pros- 
pects, on  the  whole,  are  that  of  the  religious  in 
Catholicism,  except  that  they  enjoy  the  possibility  of 
being  elevated  to  a  bishopric,  since  it  is  from  the  black 
clergy  alone  that  bishops  are  chosen. 

The  white  clergy,  on  the  other  hand,  are  the  direct 
contact  machines  through  which  the  Orthodox  Church 
administers  its  sacraments,  spreads  its  teaching  to  the 
masses  and  wards  off  the  attacks  of  foes.  For  them 
marriage  is  obligatory,  and  although  they  receive  a 


"THE  FAITH  OF  THE  FATHERS"  105 

small  stipend  from  the  State,  the  problems  of  a  living, 
the  demands  of  a  wife  and  children  and  the  support 
of  a  home  are  ever  present. 

Since  the  executive  power,  the  Holy  Synod,  is  com- 
posed in  the  main  of  black  clergy,  it  is  the  black  clergy 
that  have  precedence  in  the  eyes  of  the  Church.  The 
feeling  between  the  two  orders  has  long  since  passed 
the  bounds  of  good-natured  competition.  It  now  re- 
solves itself  into  bitter  enmity,  with  the  religious 
ranked  higher  than  the  seculars,  and  the  seculars  much 
in  the  position  of  the  proverbial  underdog.  The  ques- 
tions that  confront  them  in  their  dealings  with  one 
another  are  not  how  much  opportunity  for  Christian 
labor  shall  the  white  clergy  have  and  how  much  the 
black,  but  how  much  of  the  ecclesiastical  budget  can 
the  one  take  without  making  the  breach  between  the 
two  still  wider. 

The  lot  of  the  white  clergy  is  also  rendered  difficult 
by  the  fact  that  they  are,  to  an  extent,  servants  of  the 
State.  Thus,  since  Orthodoxy  is  the  State  religion, 
the  Orthodox  village  pope  is  ostensibly  charged  with 
the  supervision  of  the  local  activities  and  private  life 
of  his  congregation.  He  is  supposed  to  allay  uneasi- 
ness, nip  in  the  bud  any  revolutionary  tendencies  that 
may  be  brought  to  his  notice,  and,  in  some  sections, 
he  has  even  been  known  to  be  a  member  of  the  dreaded 
Third  Division  with  the  sad  duty  of  having  to  report 
to  the  police  the  politically  recalcitrant  of  his  village. 
Since  the  alarming  spread  of  dissent  that  followed  on 
the  ukase  for  religious  freedom  a  few  years  back,  the 
village  priest  has  been  considered  not  so  much  the  shep- 
herd of  his  flock,  the  guide  in  morals,  the  consoler  in 
grief  and  the  counselor  in  doubt,  as  an  untiring  sup- 


io6     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

pressor  of  heterodoxy,  an  ecclesiastical  militant  of  the 
most  violent  order,  a  persecutor  of  the  sectarian. 

In  addition,  he  has  a  function  that  in  other  countries 
has  long  since  devolved  upon  the  secular  authorities. 
As  a  civil  marriage  does  not  exist  in  Russia,  the  contract 
being  held  valid  only  when  consecrated  by  the  Church 
and  registered  in  the  Church  books,  the  pope  is  the 
authority  in  the  local  bureau  of  vital  statistics.  He 
is  the  registrar  of  births  and  marriages  and  deaths  in 
Russia. 

For  filling  this  dual  role  of  priest  and  state  servant, 
the  Government,  as  has  been  said,  sees  that  he  is  given 
a  stipend.  The  budget  of  the  Holy  Synod  for  the 
year  1915  showed  the  following  item:  "For  town 
and  country  clergy,  for  missions  and  missionaries, 
14,800,715  roubles."  Seven  million  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars  seems  a  large  sum,  yet,  if  it  were 
divided  equally  between  the  rural  clergy  and  the  mis- 
sionaries, the  village  priest's  share  would  not  exceed 
$50  a  year.  As  matters  stand  a  huge  part  of  that  ap- 
propriation is  spent  for  missions,  the  remaining  sums 
being  apportioned  in  the  following  manner:  To  the 
rector  of  an  influential  parish  in  a  large  town,  144 
roubles,  $72  per  annum;  in  a  medium-sized  parish,  108 
roubles,  $54;  and  to  the  smaller  ones,  72  roubles,  $36. 

This  sliding  scale  of  stipends  demonstrates  the  rea- 
son for  the  average  priest's  paradoxical  position  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Government.  Though  an  indirect  servant 
of  the  State,  he  cannot  be  granted  a  wage  that  will 
pennit  him  to  exceed  in  social  appearance  and  posi- 
tion the  local  direct  representatives  of  the  Government, 
the  captain  of  gendarmes  and  the  ispravnik^  the  district 
chief  of  police.    The  Government  knows  well  that  the 


"THE  FAITH  OF  THE  FATHERS"  107 

moujik  is  swayed  by  ocular  proof,  hence  the  ecclesias- 
tical must  never  rank  above  the  civil.  Here  Church 
and  State  are  at  loggerheads,  with  the  poor  white  clergy 
once  more  the  underdog. 

Beside  his  position  in  the  Church  and  in  the  State 
is  his  position  in  society.  Frankly,  he  has  none.  The 
fact  of  a  man's  being  of  the  white  clergy  works  the  op- 
posite effect  that  it  does  here  in  America  or  in  Britain, 
where  the  parish  clergyman  is  given  entree  because  of 
his  cloth.  The  nobility  in  Russia  look  down  on  the 
village  popes,  and  in  the  country  districts  the  landed 
proprietors  generally  hold  them  lightly,  except  when 
they  can  be  used  to  advantage  to  further  their  own 
ends. 

This  attitude  has  been  brought  about  by  the  ancient 
caste  system  that  used  to  obtain  among  the  clergy,  and 
by  their  lack  of  education.  Until  the  end  of  the  last 
century  it  was  the  unwritten  but  understood  rule  that 
no  pope's  son  could  enter  a  profession.  The  body 
ecclesiastical  became  a  thing  apart.  Moreover,  there 
were  ranks  in  the  white  clergy  that  no  one  dared  trans- 
gress. No  son  could  hold  an  office  higher  than  his 
father  held — a  pope's  son  had  to  become  a  pope,  and 
a  vicar's  a  vicar.  The  office  was  hereditary,  and  in 
some  villages  the  pope's  family  held  the  living  for 
generations.  This  system  of  castes  has  been  dissolved 
by  permitting  popes'  sons  to  enter  the  services  of  the 
State,  with  the  result  that  now  on  university  staffs  and 
in  regimental  messes  can  be  found  innumerable  sons 
of  the  rural  clerg}^ 

Time  was  when  the  educational  requirements  for  the 
pope  were  absurdly  insignificant.  The  knowledge  of 
how  to  read  and  write  and  the  learning  of  a  few  psalms 


io8     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

by  heart  was  about  all  that  his  examiners  required  of 
him.  This  condition,  too,  has  changed,  and  now  the 
level  of  education  among  the  village  clergy  is  much 
higher,  and  is  being  raised  every  year. 

Public  opinion  formed  through  the  ages  does  not 
change  so  quickly,  however,  and  for  some  time  to  come 
the  village  pope  must  suffer  the  slights  from  society 
that  he  once  deserved  because  of  his  professional  restric- 
tions and  his  ignorance. 

The  factor  weighing  heaviest  in  the  balance  of  the 
pope's  private  life  is  the  obligatory  marriage.  In  the 
few  weeks  intervening  between  his  graduation  and  his 
appointment  to  a  living  he  must  find  a  wife.  She  is 
invariably  chosen  from  among  the  daughters  of  the 
clergy.  As  the  bishop  is  ex  officio  guardian  to  all 
priests'  children,  he  generally  has  a  list  of  marriageable 
girls  on  hand  to  offer  the  young  candidate.  Perhaps 
the  seminarist  may  never  have  seen  the  girl,  perhaps 
he  may  be  in  love  with  another,  yet  he  finds  it  politic 
to  humor  the  bishop's  whim  and  marry  the  girl  chosen. 

The  girl's  side  of  the  problem  is  even  more  difficult. 
She  is  obliged  to  bring  to  her  fiance  a  dowry — a  sum 
of  money,  wool  and  silk  clothes,  tea  and  table  service 
and  furniture.  How  the  poor  village  priest  manages 
to  scrape  together  such  an  expensive  dot,  no  one  knows. 

So  in  this  way  it  has  come  about  that  a  pope  marries 
a  pope's  daughter.  Should  the  young  priest  die,  the 
support  of  the  children  devolves  upon  the  bishop. 
Should  they  be  very  young,  they  are  sent  off  to  a  home. 
If  one  of  the  children  is  a  girl  not  yet  of  marriageable 
age,  the  bishop  permits  her  to  live  on  with  her  mother 
until  she  is  old  enough  to  marry  a  graduating  semi- 
narist.    The  living  meanwhile  may  be  left  vacant. 


"THE  FAITH  OF  THE  FATHERS"  109 

The  young  priest  who  has  to  marry  under  these  cir- 
cumstances is  to  be  pitied;  he  has  not  alone  poverty  to 
face  and  a  round  of  exacting  duties,  but  he  must  live 
with  his  mother-in-law  I 

From  the  foregoing  it  must  not  be  thought  that 
happy  marriages  among  the  clergy  are  rare.  In  fact, 
most  of  them  are  happily  married  and  their  home  life 
is  the  one  bright  spot  in  the  village. 

Having  acquired  his  wife  and  his  appointment,  the 
young  priest  settles  down  in  his  living.  The  church 
has  been  erected  by  the  town,  so  that  in  most  cases 
the  new  pastor  has  little  of  the  material  fabric  of  the 
church  to  worry  about.  It  is  to  the  moujiks  that  he 
must  look  for  his  home.  According  to  the  custom,  this 
is  provided  by  the  congregation;  and  since  it  is  a  costly 
item,  the  new  incumbent  finds  it  difficult  at  times  to 
persuade  his  people  to  furnish  him  with  a  fit  dwelling 
place.  Once  the  wife,  the  living,  and  the  house  prob- 
lems are  settled,  what  prospect  lies  before  the  young 
priest? 

In  the  ecclesiastical  realm  there  are  the  church  serv- 
ices, with  perhaps  a  chapel  or  two  to  attend.  He  must 
tramp  or  ride  this  circuit,  reading  services,  attending 
to  the  spiritual  wants  of  his  flock.  If  there  is  a  school 
in  the  village,  he  takes  a  class  in  religious  instruction; 
if  there  is  no  school,  the  children  come  to  his  house. 
This  house,  in  addition,  must  always  be  ready  for  the 
welcoming  of  officials,  of  visitors  and  of  strangers  who 
may  not  care  to  put  up  at  the  village  inn. 

The  pope's  material  prospects  are  dependent  on  the 
charity  of  his  people  and  the  bounty  of  the  crops,  to- 
gether with  the  $38  he  received  from  the  State.  In 
his  circuit  of  the  parish  he  generally  collects  fees  in 


no     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

kind — a  measure  of  meal,  a  piece  of  handmade  linen, 
a  loaf  of  bread,  a  bunch  of  radishes.  Often,  however, 
the  sodden  peasant  would  simply  set  out  the  vodka 
bottle  and  tell  the  pastor  to  help  himself.  Before  the 
war  the  pastor  did  help  himself — with  lamentable  re- 
sults. 

The  drunkenness  of  the  village  clergy  is  a  pet  theme 
of  anti-Russian  polemicists.  It  is  true  that  drink  at 
one  time  had  such  a  hold  on  the  poorer  white  clergy 
that  the  Holy  Synod  was  obliged  to  include  in  the 
questions  on  a  pope's  service  list:  "To  what  extent 
does  he  indulge  in  intoxicating  liquors'?"  It  was  also 
true  that  the  habit  was  forced  upon  him  by  circum- 
stances. He  hated  vodka,  he  knew  its  damnable  re- 
sults— ^but  what  could  he  do "?  He  preached  against  it, 
but  at  the  danger  of  cutting  off  his  own  bread  and  but- 
ter. Fortunate  for  him  has  been  this  vodka  prohibi- 
tion! 

What  the  moujik  thinks  of  his  pastor  depends,  of 
course,  on  both  the  moujik  and  the  pastor,  and  it  may 
be  said  in  justice  to  both  that  the  priest  is  held  in  high 
regard.  The  thinking  peasant  has  very  clear  ideas  of 
what  constitutes  ethical  goodness  and  what  elements 
go  to  make  up  a  leader  of  men.  "The  type  of  saint 
as  conceived  by  our  peasant,"  says  Uspensky,  "is  not 
that  of  an  anchorite  timidly  secluded  from  the  world 
lest  some  part  of  the  treasure  he  is  accumulating  in 
Heaven  might  get  damaged.  Our  popular  saint  is  the 
man  of  the  Mir,  a  man  of  practical  piety,  a  teacher  and 
a  benefactor  of  the  people." 

The  picture  above  may  seem  very  dark,  but  there  are 
bright  sides  to  the  lowly  priest's  life  and  many  a  com- 
pensation.   There  are  years  of  abundant  harvest;  there 


"THE  FAITH  OF  THE  FATHERS"  m 

are  the  love  and  care  of  wife  and  children;  there  are 
faithful  folk  and  true  in  the  congregation;  there  are 
humble  saints  among  those  shaggy,  obstinate  moujiks 
that  must  bring  cheer  to  his  heart. 

There  is  a  divine  compensation  that  comes  to  these 
humble  workers  in  Orthodoxy's  spiritual  fields.  It  is 
not  merely  the  silver  lining  in  the  priest's  dark  cloud 
when  he  dreams  of  promotion ;  it  is  a  subtler  and  more 
potent  urge  that  is  vouchsafed  him.  It  is  the  true  elan 
vital  that  makes  of  the  humblest,  most  despised  cleric 
a  superman  of  the  Levites,  a  priest  after  the  order  of 
Melchisedec.  The  world  can  deny  him  enough  food 
and  drink,  but  it  cannot  take  from  him  the  indwelling 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  wrangles  of  Church  and  State 
and  the  neglect  of  his  congregation  may  make  his  house 
a  mean  place,  but  in  no  measure  can  it  deprive  him  of 
the  divine  grace  that  makes  his  heart  its  home. 

It  is  when  the  pope  is  before  the  altar  that  the  com- 
pensation comes.  Like  a  contact  point  on  an  electric 
machine  that  sparks  and  flames  as  the  power  surges 
through  it,  he  stands  with  hands  uplifted  that  reach 
Heaven.  At  that  moment  he  is  elevated  to  divine 
estate.  The  golden  vestments  on  him,  the  gold  about 
on  all  sides,  the  enclouding  incense  and  the  glory  of  a 
hundred  lighted  tapers  lift  him  up  to  realms  above 
poverty  and  loneliness  and  scorn. 

Shaggy-bearded,  shaggy-locked,  burdened  with  a 
hundred  responsibilities — on  the  shoulders  of  these  vil- 
lage priests  the  strength  of  Orthodoxy  is  laid.  Some 
day  the  State  may  slip  its  support  from  beneath  the 
Church;  but  in  that  hour  Orthodoxy  will  stand  firm 
because  of  these  humble  village  priests. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    MOUJIK's    religion 

THE  war  has  driven  the  world  home  to  the 
foot  of  the  Cross. 
Of  recent  years  we  have  concerned  our- 
selves with  living,  with  creating  religions  of  living 
happily.  We  have  had  our  philosophy  strongly  col- 
ored by  the  Pollyanna  spirit.  Suffering  was  denied, 
sorrow  was  scorned,  death  defied.  We  were  so  en- 
grossed in  teaching  men  how  to  live  happily  that  we 
completely  neglected  to  teach  them  how  to  die  happily. 

Suddenly  this  fool's  paradise  is  plunged  into  war. 
Rank  on  rank  of  men  fall  before  the  murderous  fire. 
By  thousands  they  die  on  blood-washed  fields,  in  hos- 
pitals, on  the  seas.  Famine  and  want  and  disease 
scourge  the  land.  The  weight  of  suffering  is  thrown 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  world. 

Hitherto  we  have  been  saying  that  these  things  were 
not  possible.  Now  we  know  that  they  are  not  only 
very  possible  but  very  true.  Hitherto  we  have  looked 
on  death  with  bland  unconcern.  Now  we  consider  it 
an  atonement,  whereby  men  may  wash  out  the  evil  of 
their  lives,  a  triumph,  the  least  of  the  sacrifices  men 
can  make  for  an  ideal. 

We  have  valued  life  too  much  and  death  too  little. 
Now  must  we  learn  the  grim  necessity  of  teaching  men 
how  to  die. 

112 


THE  MOUJIK'S  RELIGION  113 

The  nearer  one  approaches  the  East,  the  less  he  finds 
life  valued,  and  the  more  is  death  appreciated.  In 
Russia,  that  mingled  country  of  the  East  and  West, 
Life  is  only  a  path  to  the  gateway  of  Death.  Russia 
has  always  understood  suffering  and  been  acquainted 
with  grief.  The  moujik's  Christ  was  a  cripple;  you 
can  see  His  crutch  in  the  third  crooked  arm  of  the  Rus- 
sian cross.  The  moujik  holds  that  if  you  would  fol- 
low in  His  footsteps,  you  must  bear  His  cross  in  the 
podvig,  the  suffering  that  atones.  As  the  poem  runs 
at  the  bottom  of  a  Russian  war  picture, 

The  podvig  is  in  battle, 
The  podvig  is  in  struggle, 
The  highest  podvig  is  in  patience, 
Love  and  prayer.^ 

So  then,  when  the  spear  of  war  pierces  the  moujik^s 
side,  he  understands  it  as  few  men  can.  To  him  the 
foot  of  the  Cross  is  his  eventual  home.  The  way  there 
lies  through  the  lights  and  shadows  of  his  motley  re- 
ligion. 


Beside  my  inkpot  lies  a  small  bronze  Maltese  cross. 
On  one  face  is  stamped  a  wheel,  a  pair  of  wings  and 
some  cryptic  capitals;  on  the  reverse,  the  name  of  a 
bicycle  maker  of  Miami,  Ohio.  This  cross  was  cut 
from  the  neck  of  a  Russian  soldier  who  died  in  the 
trenches. 

How  such  an  advertising  bauble  got  from  Miami, 
Ohio,  to  shell-scarred  No  Man's  Land,  I  cannot  say. 

^I    have    availed    myself    of    this    translation    from    an    article    by 
Stephen  Graham  in  Country  Life  for  October  14th,  1916. 


114    THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

A  fictioner  might  weave  a  romance  about  it.  All  I 
know  is  that  he  was  a  shaggy-haired  youth,  a  peasant, 
and  that  the  cross  was  upon  him. 

Frankly,  the  fact  of  his  being  a  youth  detracts  some- 
what from  the  reality  the  presence  of  the  cross  might 
have  had.  Had  he  been  a  man  of  middle  age  or  one 
approaching  old  age,  I  should  feel  differently  about  it, 
because  he  would  have  felt  differently  about  it.  To 
such  a  man  the  cross  would  have  meant  something  very 
vital  in  his  everyday  life,  for  by  that  time  he  would 
have  begun  his  pilgrimage. 

Every  Russian  child,  at  baptism,  has  a  cross  or  an 
ikon  placed  about  his  neck,  and  there  it  remains  until 
death.  Yet  for  the  first  half  of  life  the  symbol  repre- 
sents scarcely  anything  to  him  other  than  the  meaning 
which  sentiment  attaches. 

Like  youths  the  world  over,  his  head  is  too  full  of 
play  for  churchly  and  religious  things.  When  he  en- 
ters manhood  there  are  the  stern  problems  of  wrench- 
ing a  meager  fare  from  the  soil,  problems  that  grow 
heavier  as  the  years  and  family  increase.  Moreover, 
the  peasant  has  neither  the  leisure  nor  the  habit  of  mind 
to  fit  him  for  abstract  speculation.  For  a  number  of 
years,  then,  he  leads  a  life  in  which  religion  is  quite  the 
least  important  element. 

By  this  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  outward 
signs  of  devoutness  are  absent  or  that  fervor  is  at  all 
lacking.  The  young  moujik^s  piety  leaves  much  to  be 
desired;  yet,  if  you  were  to  judge  him  by  external 
things — by  the  reverence  with  which  he  mentions  the 
Sacred  Name  or  the  ostentatious  manner  of  his  worship 
in  church — you  would  set  the  peasant  lad  down  as  the 
most  fervid  devotee. 


THE  MOUJIK'S  RELIGION  115 

Russian  students  are  divided  on  this  question  of 
the  reality  or  non-reality  of  the  peasant's  religion.  The 
Slavophils  and  the  disciples  of  Tolstoy  make  him  a 
romantically  sacrosanct  figure;  the  opposite  school,  of 
whom  the  most  prominent  representative  is  the  his- 
torian N.  Kostomiarov,  claims  that  the  modem  Ortho- 
dox peasants  are  at  much  the  same  pass  to-day  as  were 
their  forefathers,  the  Muscovites,  of  the  17th  Century, 
who  were  "remarkable  for  a  state  of  such  complete  re- 
ligious indifference  as  to  be  without  parallel  in  the 
annals  of  Christian  nations." 

The  difRculty  in  accepting  wholly  either  one  of  these 
opinions  is  that  neither  is  applicable  to  the  entirety  of 
the  peasant's  life.  In  youth  and  manhood  he  is  a 
loose-end  soul.  In  old  age,  he  is  quite  another  person. 
Should  you  chance  to  speak  to  a  village  pope  on  the 
lax  morals  of  his  young  men,  he  will  shrug  a  shoulder 
and  utter  that  characteristic  ''Nzechevo" — What  does 
it  matter  *?  Knowing  the  Russian  soul,  he  rests  assured 
that  when  age  comes  on,  these  Godless  sons  will  turn 
to  the  church  for  strength  and  consolation. 

Thus,  up  to  a  certain  point  in  life,  the  peasant's 
mind  is  set  not  on  things  above,  but  on  the  bread  and 
butter,  or,  more  precisely,  the  bread  and  vodka  side 
of  life.  Then  of  a  sudden,  stirred  by  repentance,  by 
illness,  by  bereavement,  by  loneliness,  or  more  com- 
monly by  the  quickening  of  the  quiescent  fervor  that 
is  in  the  blood  of  every  Slav,  he  looks  beyond  mundane 
things  and  centers  his  religion  on  the  farther  side  of 
the  grave.  Work  and  play  and  drink  alike  become 
abominations  to  him.  A  restlessness  creeps  over  his 
spirit.  He  wants  to  be  on  his  way.  The  desire  to 
"go  to  Jerusalem"  leaps  like  a  flame  before  him.     By 


ii6    THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

the  very  act  of  wishing  to  go,  he  believes  he  has  al- 
ready begun  the  journey. 

The  phenomenon  of  the  pilgrimage  can  be  witnessed 
in  Russia  as  nowhere  else  to-day.  Along  the  city 
streets,  down  country  roads,  across  the  desolate  steppes, 
5^ou  meet  the  pilgrims  in  ones,  in  twos,  in  threes,  some- 
times in  hosts.  They  are  invariably  gray-haired. 
Many  are  crippled.  Neither  poverty  nor  physical 
weakness,  however,  seems  to  resist  the  divine  poten- 
tialities that  this  desire  arouses  in  them.  They  may 
be  journeying  to  Moscow,  to  Mt.  Athos,  to  Kiev,  or 
even  to  Jerusalem  itself.  Whatever  the  destination, 
the  pilgrimage  is  the  crowning  act  of  the  peasant's 
faith,  just  as  the  center  of  that  faith  is  on  the  other 
side  of  the  grave. 

To  the  thousands  that  actually  do  go  on  pilgrimages, 
there  are  tens  of  thousands  who  are  pilgrimaging, 
though  they  never  leave  their  dooryards.  Often  in 
traveling  through  the  country  you  will  put  up  at  a 
peasant's  hut  and  be  told,  somewhat  to  your  embar- 
rassment, that  the  grandfather  of  the  household  is  very 
ill.  He  lies  on  a  heap  of  dirty  bed-linen  off  in  one 
comer,  and  no  one  pays  much  attention  to  him.  In- 
vestigation will  prove  him,  like  as  not,  to  be  a  per- 
fectly healthy  specimen  of  rugged  old  age  with  actually 
nothing  the  matter  with  him.  Try  as  you  may,  no 
amount  of  persuasion  or  threats  will  rouse  the  old  fel- 
low from  his  bed.  And  that,  it  seems,  is  the  way  with 
the  Russian  peasant.  When  he  falls  sick  he  knows 
beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  he  is  going  to  die.  Per- 
haps he  may  recover,  but  the  lesson  has  been  too  real 
to  him ;  and  while  his  body  is  simply  taking  a  rest  cure, 
his  spirit  has  turned  its  back  upon  this  world  and  set 


THE  MOUJIK'S  RELIGION  117 

its  feet  upon  the  road  that  leads  up  to  the  Spiritual 
City.  Henceforth  he  will  do  no  work  save  to  prepare 
for  death. 

Dying  prepared  is  the  one  thing  that  the  moujik 
has  reduced,  if  I  might  use  the  parlance  of  the  day, 
to  a  fine  art.  He  has  a  wholesome  fear  of  dying  sud- 
denly, lest  he  be  without  absolution.  He  has  a  whole- 
some fear  of  dying  without  material  preparations  lest 
he  be  buried  in  the  shroud  intended  for  another.  So 
soon  as  he  thinks  he  is  going  to  die,  he  sets  about  mak- 
ing his  shroud.  It  is  sewed  of  a  number  of  pieces 
of  linen  cut  in  a  certain  fashion.  A  wooden  cross  for 
the  neck  is  carved,  and  that  and  the  shroud  are  bun- 
dled together.  Should  the  peasant  go  on  a  pilgrimage, 
he  takes  these  with  him. 

When  he  dies,  women  prepare  his  body  for  burial, 
dressing  it  in  the  shroud  and  placing  the  wooden  cross 
about  the  neck.  Candles  are  set  around  the  coffin,  and 
in  their  light  nuns  of  the  neighborhood  read  the  Psalms 
until  the  time  for  interment.  Then  the  church  sends 
a  richly  embroidered  pall  to  put  over  the  coffin,  for 
though  it  is  nowhere  written  in  the  rubrics,  the  peasants 
believe  that  at  death  each  man  becomes  a  priest. 

Thus  far,  with  few  exceptions,  the  faith  of  the 
moujik  may  appear  to  differ  but  little  from  faith 
the  world  over.  The  idea  of  death  rarely  appeals  to  a 
youth,  and  the  average  man,  busy  with  his  duties,  has 
little  time  to  think  upon  it.  One  usually  associates 
thoughts  of  death  with  old  age. 

The  point  wherein  the  moujik  differs  from  every 
other  peasant  is  the  fact  that  this  peculiar  attraction 
of  death  is  the  foundation  and  superstructure  and  cap- 
stone of  his  faith.    Speak  to  him  of  the  pre-crucifixion 


ii8     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

life  of  the  Lord,  and  he  is  not  interested.  The  teach- 
ings, the  parables,  the  miracles,  the  daily  life  of  the 
Master  as  He  moved  among  men,  as  He  journeyed 
from  place  to  place  with  His  disciples — these  things  the 
peasant  cares  little  for.  But  once  you  begin  to  talk 
of  those  few  days  following  the  Resurrection,  those 
appearances  and  disappearances,  those  words  whis- 
pered here  and  there  upon  the  road  by  the  Stranger — 
then  the  Russian  peasant  begins  to  take  interest.  He 
cannot  understand  the  radiant  human  face  of  Christ, 
but  he  can  understand  the  pale  face  of  the  dead  Christ 
in  Mary's  lap.  The  same  is  true  of  his  attitude  toward 
the  saints.  With  few  exceptions,  a  dead  saint  attracts 
him  far  more  than  a  live  one. 

Should  you  judge  the  faith  of  the  moujik  in  the 
terms  of  the  West,  you  find  yourself  utterly  at  sea. 
We  view  life  through  the  eyes  of  life,  the  Russian 
views  life  through  the  eyes  of  death.  To  him  "Life 
is  the  night,  Death  the  rising  of  the  sun." 

There  are  several  reasons  to  which  might  be  at- 
tributed the  moujik' s  uncanny  feeling  about  death.  It 
might  be  explained  by  analyzing  his  dual  nature :  the 
element  of  the  East  with  all  its  detachment  from  life 
and  its  leaning  toward  a  purely  mystical  conception 
of  the  world;  and  the  Aryan  element  of  the  West, 
which  centers  its  religion  in  life,  which  loves  the  flesh, 
which  believes  in  the  reality  of  the  world  with  all 
its  victories  over  the  forces  of  Nature  and  its  dreams 
of  evolution,  progress,  and  development.  The  West 
teaches  the  intense  joyousness  of  Life;  the  East  the 
joyousness  of  Death. 

Moreover,  the  peasant  has  a  tendency  toward  ex- 
tremes.   He  is  as  impatient  and  impetuous  as  a  child. 


THE  MOUJIK'S  RELIGION  119 

He  cannot  grasp  the  infinite  patience  and  endless  la- 
bors by  which  a  race  of  serfs  rises  to  a  high  plane 
of  civilization.  He  does  not  understand  evolu- 
tion. Under  his  skin  he  is  an  extremist,  a  revolution- 
ist. When  he  petitions  his  government,  he  demands 
the  seizure  and  equal  distribution  of  all  State  lands 
and  private  properties;  when  he  drinks,  he  gets  drunk; 
when  he  eats,  he  gorges;  when  he  believes  the  end  of 
life  to  be  approaching,  he  cannot  go  on  with  the  day's 
toil  and  meet  death  while  he  labors,  but  he  must  begin 
to  die  from  the  moment  the  thought  of  death  occurs 
to  him.  And  with  all  the  mystic,  somber  and  obscure 
fervor  of  the  East,  he  sets  about  making  his  shroud 
and  carving  his  cross  and  stumbling  on  his  pilgrimage. 
In  addition  to  these  two — the  feeling  of  the  East 
toward  death  and  the  tendency  toward  extremes — 
there  is  still  a  third  reason  why  death  means  a  joyous 
thing  to  the  moujik.  He  is  in  reality  glad  to  die,  be- 
cause it  has  been  so  very  hard  to  live.  Little  wonder 
that  the  Christ  of  the  wounded  hands  and  feet  should 
have  such  an  appeal  to  the  peasant  whose  hands  and 
feet  also  have  been  wounded !  Little  wonder  that  for 
him  Death  is  the  gateway  to  Life  I 

II 

All  dead  saints  to  the  moujzk  are  very  much  alive. 
And  behind  this  is  a  story  other  than  the  explanation 
of  his  interest  in  death. 

We  of  the  West  look  upon  a  religious  object  as  a 
symbol ;  what  reverence  we  pay  it,  we  pay  to  the  thing 
the  symbol  represents.  With  the  Russian  peasant  this 
is  quite  different.    His  ikons  and  saints  and  ceremonies 


120    THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

lose  their  signification  as  means  to  an  end  and  become, 
as  in  the  East,  idols  and  ends  in  themselves.  "In 
the  eyes  of  the  people,"  says  Stepniak,  "the  ikon  is  a 
living  thing;  the  very  body  of  the  saint,  whose  spirit 
dwells  in  it  as  a  man's  spirit  inhabits  his  corporeal 
frame.  They  believe  that  the  ikon  feels  pain  and  pleas- 
ure, resents  insults,  and  is  gratified  by  kind  treatment, 
just  as  a  living  being  would  be." 

These  assertions,  no  doubt,  will  meet  with  denials 
from  those  who  know  the  dogmatic  side  alone  of  the 
Orthodox  Church.  However,  after  being  with  the 
peasant  in  European  Russia,  traveling  with  him  on 
his  emigrant  train  to  Siberia,  and  living  elbow  to  el- 
bow with  him  in  far-away  villages  of  the  Russian  East, 
the  consensus  of  my  observations  is  that,  at  heart,  his 
religion  is  idolatrous  and  pagan  when  viewed  according 
to  strict  Western  standards. 

To  consider  the  Byzantine  form  of  Christianity,  as 
found  to-day  in  Russia,  apart  from  its  distinctly  East- 
ern and  pagan  elements,  were  mere  folly.  The  advan- 
tage of  its  theology  is  that  it  is  elastic  enough  to  cover 
all  states  and  elements  of  faith.  The  Orthodox  Church 
still  works  side  by  side  with  pagan  rites  that  once  con- 
stituted the  body  of  the  primitive  Slav  religion.  It 
has  gathered  up  many  of  the  old  ways,  to  be  sure,  but 
vestiges  of  others  exist.  In  the  church  itself  the  bewil- 
dering color  of  both  architecture  and  ceremonial,  the 
secretive  nature  lent  the  Mass  by  the  intervention  be- 
tween the  priest  and  the  people  of  the  ikonostas,  the 
multitude  of  saints  lesser  and  great,  these  can  be  de- 
fined as  none  other  than  Orthodoxy's  Oriental  elements 
manifesting  themselves.     Especially  is  this  true  when 


THE  MOUJIK'S  RELIGION  121 

their  parallels  are  found  just  the  other  side  of  the 
Urals. 

St.  Nicholas,  the  most  popular  of  Russian  saints,  is 
also  a  deity  among  the  heathen  aborigines  of  Siberia. 
St.  Vlas,  the  protector  of  flocks  and  herds,  is  worshiped 
by  pagan  members  of  the  Empire  as  Volas.  The  com- 
parison could  be  carried  down  the  entire  hagiography 
with  surprising  results. 

Though  Russia  is  generally  reputed  to  be  the  most 
religious  country  in  the  world,  it  is  undeniable  that 
the  bulk  of  the  population,  which  is  peasant,  has  only 
the  faintest  conception  of  the  framew^ork  upon  which 
is  based  the  religion  to  which  it  officially  belongs.  The 
peasant  who  can  satisfactorily  and  intelligently  give 
an  explanation  of  the  articles  of  his  creed  is  a  rare 
exception.  He  will  relate  all  sorts  of  legends  and 
utter  all  manner  of  superstitions,  but  in  the  last  analy- 
sis he  knows  more  about  the  pagan  customs  that  are 
his  than  about  the  Christian  faith  he  nominally  em- 
braces. The  fundamental  ideas  of  the  Christian  the- 
ological system  seems  either  to  be  misunderstood  by 
the  peasant,  or  to  be  lost  under  the  predominance  of 
pagan  influences.  One  does  not  wonder  at  the  Mus- 
covite's inability  to  grasp  the  abstruse  theology  of 
the  Divine  Procession,  Orthodoxy's  creedal  point  of 
divergence  from  the  West;  but  it  is  surprising  to  see, 
for  example,  how  the  peasant  mind  conceives  the  rela- 
tion between  God  the  Father,  and  God  the  Son.  It  is 
akin  to  an  earthly  relationship  of  father  and  son.  They 
are  two  totally  distinct  persons.  God  the  Son  is  held 
in  great  sympathy  as  the  friend  of  the  common  people 
and  the  enemy  of  the  rich,  perhaps  not  so  much  a  liv- 
ing personality  warring  against  the  foes  of  the  down- 


122     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

trodden  moujik^  as  he  is  conceived  to  be  a  lifeless, 
shadowy  figure  or  power,  a  nemesis,  a  deus  ex  macliina 
that  appears  at  crucial  moments  in  a  story  to  solve 
knotty  problems  or  give  utterance  to  the  popular  view 
of  things.  God  the  Father,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a 
vague  figure,  usually  considered  a  task-master  and  gen- 
erally reputed  to  be  unkind.  In  legends  He  invariably 
tries  to  baffle  the  divine  ordinances  and  defend  men 
from  death  as  long  as  He  can. 

The  Devil  is  held  in  genial  attitude  of  toleration. 
Of  course,  he  is  a  thoroughly  bad  person  who  drives 
the  trade  of  dragging  people  down  to  Hell;  but  since 
that  is  his  business  and  he  sticks  to  it  faithfully,  he 
should  in  no  wise  be  despised.  On  the  whole,  the  Devil 
is  accepted  with  forbearance  and  kindliness.  In  one 
legend,  that  of  "Noe  the  Godly,"  his  Satanic  Majesty 
is  represented  as  the  junior  brother  of  God  and  fellow- 
worker  in  the  creation  of  the  universe.  He  is  not  the 
angel  before  the  fall,  as  we  hold  him,  but  even  at  the 
time  of  the  Creation  a  bad  person,  a  sort  of  foil  to 
God. 

The  fabric  of  the  moujik's  conception  of  Heaven 
and  Hell  is  so  shot  with  apocryphal  ideas  directly  trace- 
able to  pagan  beliefs  that  the  design  is  almost  obscured. 
Just  as  on  Olympus  the  gods  wrangled  among  them- 
selves and  were  unscrupulous  to  gain  their  ends,  so 
the  saints  are  pictured  in  the  moujik's  mind.  In  fact, 
so  complete  is  the  fusion  of  pagan  and  Christian  ele- 
ments in  his  beliefs  that  to  the  observer  it  will  be  a 
moot  point  whether  Orthodoxy  has  succeeded  in  trans- 
forming pure  paganism  into  Christianity,  or  Christian- 
ity in  the  hands  of  the  moujik  has  gradually  been  trans- 
formed into  pure  paganism. 


THE  MOUJIK'S  RELIGION  123 

Both  the  Government  and  the  Church  in  Russia  have 
striven  to  stamp  out  pagan  worship.  The  publication 
of  pagan  legends  for  the  masses  has  been  censored  and 
by  redoubled  missionary  activity  the  Church  is  attempt- 
ing to  do  away  with  many  practices  that  are  common 
among  rural  folk. 

Numberless  customs  still  exist,  nevertheless.  The 
sowing  and  reaping  of  crops  is  regulated  not  by  seasons 
and  climates,  but  by  the  almanac  of  saints'  days  and 
by  lucky  hours.  Thus  wheat  will  not  germinate,  they 
say,  if  planted  at  Easter,  and  cabbages  to  be  any  good 
at  all  must  be  set  out  on  Maundy  Thursday.  There 
are  also  many  days  on  which  the  peasant  considers  it 
unlucky  to  work;  especially  is  this  true  of  Easter  week. 
Instead  of  laboring  at  this  season,  he  used  to  go  on 
a  prolonged  drinking  bout,  and  the  last  state  of  that 
man  and  his  fields  was  worse  than  the  first. 

The  moujik's  respect  for  the  native  fays  and  sprites 
is  very  poetic,  though  explicable  because  his  life  is  lived 
close  to  Nature.  Fishermen  offer  small  propitiatory 
sacrifices  to  keep  the  house  fairies  or  domovoi  in  a  con- 
tented frame  of  mind.  The  roussalki,  by  the  way,  are 
very  pale  and  very  beautiful  nymphs  who  appear  by 
moonlight  in  rivers  and  lakes  and  streams.  Clothed 
in  but  a  crown  of  flowers,  they  stroll  about  singing  in 
choirs,  or  rest  upon  the  bank  to  comb  their  long  tresses. 
To  be  precise,  they  are  neither  fairies  nor  witches,  but 
the  souls  of  the  little  children  who  have  died  unbap- 
tized.  The  domovoi,  or  house  fairies,  are  a  very  mood- 
ish  lot.  You  must  not  mention  their  names  after  twi- 
light, and  if  you  ill-treat  them  they  will  make  sleep 
impossible.  If  your  house  is  blessed  with  good  domovoi 
who  love  you  and  your  children,  they  will  do  many 


124     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

things  for  you — they  will  take  care  of  the  horses,  watch 
over  your  daughter,  see  that  she  gets  a  good  suitor,  and 
will  never  let  you  or  yours  know  starvation. 

The  znakhar^  or  witch  doctor,  is  a  regular  institution  , 
in  many  villages,  and  though  he  apparently  works  in 
direct  antagonism  to  the  local  priest,  he  is  held  in  much 
fear.     By  means  of  spells  and  incantations,  this  char- 
latan claims  to  cure  all  sorts  of  ills. 

I  discovered  that,  in  the  Salaiyeer  Mountains,  which 
lie  two  hundred  miles  south  from  the  Trans-Siberian 
Railway  in  Western  Siberia,  when  the  cattle  or  horses 
of  a  peasant  farmer  fall  sick,  he  does  not  send  for  the 
veterinary,  but  for  the  local  sha?7ian,  or  medicine  man 
of  the  Kalmucks,  who  comes,  and  with  a  drum  drives 
away  the  evil  spirits.  Now  in  that  country  there  is 
a  veterinary  provided  by  the  local  government,  and 
his  services  can  be  had  for  almost  nothing,  but  the 
peasant  seems  to  believe  that  the  heathen  medicine  man 
effects  the  cure  with  more  dispatch  and  efficiency. 

Ill 

The  influence  of  the  East  manifests  itself  in  the  soul 
of  the  jnoujik  in  still  another  fashion — the  nature  of 
his  sects.  The  first  split  in  Orthodoxy  came  in  the 
time  of  Nikon,  in  the  17th  Century,  and  was  due 
mainly  to  disputes  over  the  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  and,  as  we  have  seen,  an  attempt  to  stand- 
ardize the  ritual.  Behind  this  schism,  however,  there 
was  a  distinct  mystical  leaning  on  the  part  of  those 
who  left  the  body  of  the  church.  The  mystical  lean- 
ing is  that  which  underlies  all  people  whose  formalism 


THE  MOUJIK'S  RELIGION  125 

is  inborn  as  is  the  Russian's.  He  has  the  formalism 
of  the  East,  and  its  mysticism  as  well. 

The  later  sectarians,  the  Doukoboors  and  Mullakons 
and  the  Strlyzic,  and  the  host  of  other  dissenting  bod- 
ies that  have  appeared  in  Russia  from  time  to  time, 
have  also  invariably  had  for  their  point  of  divergence 
some  conception  of  God  and  man's  relation  to  Him 
that  cannot  be  defined  in  terms  other  than  those  of 
pure  mysticism. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  astounding  moments  in  the 
history  of  Orthodoxy  came  upon  the  promulgation  of 
the  Edict  of  the  Toleration  in  1905.^  To  its  amaze- 
ment the  Church  found  that  many  of  its  nominal  mem- 
bers had  long  since  embraced  doctrines  other  than  those 
taught  by  the  Church,  though  for  safety's  sake  they 
had  been  professing  Orthodoxy.  And  thus,  just  as  in 
the  East  religion  is  divided  and  subdivided  into  a  mul- 
titude of  small  mystical  sects,  so  in  Russia  today  the 
divisions  grow  with  alarming  rapidity. 

The  Raskolniks,  or  dissenters,  whose  numbers,  by  the 
way,  for  the  entire  empire,  total  much  over  two  mil- 
lions, fall  into  two  classes:  the  Popovshchina,  those 
who  permit  the  ministrations  of  priests;  and  the 
Bezpopovshchina,  those  who,  repudiating  sacerdotal- 
ism, choose  "elders"  to  conduct  their  services. 

Of  the  score-odd  heretical  sects  in  Russia,  the  Mul- 
lakons are  by  far  the  most  sane,  and  incidentally  the 
most  interesting  to  study.     They  do  not  run  to  the 

*The  report  of  the  chief  procurator  of  the  Holy  Synod  in  1910 
showed  that  several  hundred  thousand  people  nominally  Orthodox 
before  had  joined  other  churches — Catholic,  Mohammedan  and 
Protestant  mainly.  The  growth  of  Protestantism  in  Russia  has  been 
very  great  in  the  past  decade.  There  is  something  about  the  long 
exhortations,  the  singing  of  sentimental  hymns  and  the  fiery  sermons 
of  Protestantism  that  appeals  to  the  moiijik.     He  likes  to  be  stirred. 


126     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

unbalanced  vagaries  of  their  closely-related  sect,  the 
Doukoboors,  or  the  hideous  self-immolation  of  the 
Philippovsti,  or  the  loathsome  promiscuousness  of  the 
Byeguni,  or  the  avowed  silence  of  the  Molchalyniki, 
or  the  unspeakable  practices  of  the  Khlistovstchina. 
Their  name,  meaning  "the  milk  drinkers,"  marks  one 
of  their  points  of  departure  from  the  Orthodox  faith; 
they  drink  milk  on  fast  days  when  such  indulgence  is 
forbidden.  They  are  more  than  Protestants;  they 
boast  the  additional  distinctive  virtue  of  being  Puri- 
tans, in  fact,  very  rigorous  Puritans.  They  are 
Protestants  in  that  they  protest  against  what  they  be- 
lieve to  be  the  errors  of  dogma  and  ritual  in  the  Ortho- 
dox Church;  Puritans  in  that  their  lives  are  distinctly 
ascetic,  in  contradistinction  to  the  lives  of  many  of 
the  Orthodox  peasantry  of  Russia. 

Political  reaction  first  brought  the  Mullakons  to 
notice.  In  1765  a  band  of  them  who  had  refused  to 
bear  arms  and  pay  their  taxes  were  arrested.  Since 
then  they  have  been  an  appreciable  factor  in  Russian 
life,  though  they  no  longer  refuse  to  serve  their  term 
in  the  army  or  contribute  to  the  revenues.  Obscurity 
veils  their  origin.  A  possible  precursor,  Dmitri  Tver- 
atinov,  was  persecuted  in  1714  for  preaching  Calvin- 
ism, but  the  supposition  is  that  the  beginnings  of  the 
sect  are  to  be  traced  directly  to  the  teachings  of  Luther, 
the  seeds  of  the  Reformation  having  been  brought  to 
Russia  by  those  foreigners  who,  during  the  reign  of 
Peter  the  Great,  poured  in  hosts  across  the  western 
frontier.  From  time  to  time,  groups  of  Mullakons 
have  been  persecuted  and  banished.  The  Church  has 
made  efforts  to  bring  them  into  the  fold,  always  with- 
out success.    Only  recently  the  Holy  Synod  authorized 


THE  MOUJIK'S  RELIGION  127 

a  missionary  campaign  to  the  Mullakons  of  Siberia. 
Now  and  again  the  world  hears  of  them — a  chance 
item  of  news  that  strays  over  the  newspaper  cables; 
Tolstoy  acknowledged  his  indebtedness  to  their  teach- 
ings; but  perhaps  the  oddest  reference,  and  one  which 
serves  also  as  an  excellent  epitome,  was  that  made  by 
a  Quaker  writer  in  1818,  who  spoke  of  the  Mullakons 
as  the  "Pennsylvanians  of  Moscovy."  To-day  the 
Caucasus,  tracts  of  Little  Russia  and  Amurland  to  the 
eastward  of  Lake  Baikal  in  Siberia,  are  their  habitat. 
In  Amurland,  where  settle  many  immigrants  from  Lit- 
tle Russia,  they  constitute  half  the  population. 

The  inroad  of  Islam,  especially  in  Western  Siberia, 
is  another  significant  religious  movement.  Moslem 
traders  coming  up  out  of  Turkestan  or  going  eastward 
on  the  Trans-Siberian,  join  their  efforts  to  the  proselyt- 
ing by  the  Tartars  already  in  Siberia.  Against  them 
the  Church  is  sending  missionaries  with  a  view  to  stem- 
ming the  tide. 

IV 

It  is  interesting  to  note,  apropos  of  these  sects,  how 
illogical  are  the  religious  prejudices  of  the  Orthodox 
Russian.  He  will  start  a  pogro??i  and  commit  atrocities 
on  the  Jews,  but  it  will  never  occur  to  him  to  voice 
even  the  slightest  protest  against  his  Mohammedan 
neighbor,  the  Tartar,  or  to  pillage  the  local  mosque. 
In  fact,  at  Ufa  a  Moslem  college  flourishes.  He  will 
scorn  and  insult  his  sectarian  fellow-townsmen,  but 
the  Mongols  and  Booriats  and  Kalmucks,  who  worship 
the  spirits  of  mountains  and  old  trees  and  tumbling 
rivers,  he  will  take  to  his  arms. 

The  reason  is  clear  enough.     The  rise  of  heretical 


128     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

sects  in  Russia  has  invariably  been  due  not  so  much 
to  religious  revolt  as  to  some  political  or  economic  re- 
action. Now  the  Moslem  and  the  Booriat  are  good 
traders — trusting,  veracious  and  above  board  in  their 
business  transactions.  What  more  could  a  Russian 
ask*?  But  the  Jew  and  the  sectarian,  many  Russians 
assert,  are  covertly  shrewd,  perfidious  and  rascally. 
Why  shouldn't  the  Orthodox  cast  their  heresy  in  their 
teeth? 


The  proof  of  the  reality  of  any  religion — pagan, 
Protestant,  Orthodox  or  Catholic — is  the  way  it  acts 
under  the  stress  of  suffering  and  defeat.  Its  test  is 
the  test  of  the  Resurrection — the  ability  to  rise  again 
after  inglorious  catastrophe  and  annihilation. 

Although  the  Russian  Church  has  been  allied  with 
the  powers  that  exploited  and  abused  the  masses,  the 
faith  of  the  Orthodox  fnoujik  has  remained  unshaken. 
Among  the  intelligentia^  who  were  affected  by  Western 
modes  of  thinking,  political  defeat  bred  mental  sulki- 
ness  and  decadence,  but  after  the  troublous  times  of 
1905  the  7noujik  went  on  believing  just  as  he  did  be- 
fore. 

There  may  be  misbelief  among  the  Russian  peas- 
antry, but  there  is  no  unbelief.  The  atheist  is  a  rara 
avis  and  sterile  agnosticism  unknown.  This  is  a  spir- 
itual fact  that  cannot  be  gainsaid — the  Orthodox  faith 
helps  the  moujik  bear  his  lot  in  life.  It  gives  him  a 
basis  for  being. 

On  the  other  hand,  such  unwavering  devotion  may 
be  set  down  to  habit  rather  than  to  the  divine  power 
of  the  Orthodox  religion.     While  I  hold  no  brief  for 


THE  MOUJIK'S  RELIGION  129 

Orthodoxy,  I  believe  that  religious  habit  is  as  jus- 
tifiable and  as  effectual  as  physiological  habit.  There 
is  just  as  much  reason  for  a  man  crossing  himself  out 
of  habit  as  there  is  for  his  breathing  out  of  habit. 
When  practice  becomes  subconscious  to  that  degree,  it 
is  a  very  real  part  of  his  life.  Once  we  grant  the 
reality  of  the  religious  fact — the  dependence  of  the 
human  soul  on  a  Supreme  Being — we  presuppose  a 
relation  that  is  as  subconscious  and  habitual,  but,  nev- 
ertheless, as  necessary  as  the  co-relation  of  lung  tissue 
and  air. 

The  Puritan  may  picture  his  God  as  a  fearsome  per- 
son dwelling  a  great  distance  off,  and  the  7nou]ik  may 
consider  Him  a  thoroughly  companionable  sort  of  fel- 
low at  his  elbow.  Who  can  say  which  conception  re- 
quires the  more  thought  *?  The  Puritan  refuses  to  wor- 
ship with  his  body  and  the  moujik  refuses  to  worship 
without  it;  and  the  Puritan  seems  to  enjoy  himself 
censoring  the  ballet  and  music  that  the  moujik's  body- 
religion  fortunately  brought  into  being  for  the  world's 
delectation. 

At  this  point  the  question  very  naturally  arises :  But 
while  Orthodoxy  teaches  the  peasant  how  to  bear  with 
his  lot  and  to  meet  death  face-fronted,  does  it  teach 
him  how  to  live — teach  him  not  to  pick  and  steal,  not 
to  lie  and  slander  and  speak  evil? 

Unquestionably  it  does.  Religion  without  some 
ethics  will  not  last  a  generation,  and  Orthodoxy  has 
lasted  for  seven  centuries.  The  Hell  of  the  Orthodox 
dogma  is  all  too  real  and  the  Heaven  all  too  beautiful 
to  permit  a  universal  laxness  on  such  everyday  matters 
of  living.  In  viewing  this,  as  in  examining  any  re- 
ligious faiths,  we  are  obliged  to  remember  that  evil 


130     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

and  good  are  matters  of  relative  value.  What  is  wrong 
for  John  Smith  of  Erie,  Pa.,  may  be  perfectly 
legitimate  for  Ivan  Ivanovitch  of  Ekaterinburg.  More- 
over, one  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  two  different  con- 
ceptions of  religion  held  by  East  and  West. 

We  of  the  West  insist  that  religion  and  ethics  must 
be  one  and  inseparable.  This  is  not  the  rule  of  the 
East,  nor  can  we  expect  to  find  it  in  the  Russian  mael- 
strom of  East  and  West.  The  East  makes  a  distinc- 
tion between  the  two — and  lives  accordingly.  The 
West  makes  no  distinction  in  theory,  but  separates 
them  as  far  as  the  poles  in  the  practices  of  everyday 
life. 

The  great  difficulty  in  finding  a  clear  definition  for 
the  moujik's  religion  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  not  wholly 
Eastern  nor  wholly  Western,  that  it  is  not  altogether 
pagan  nor  altogether  Christian.  It  is  a  mingling  of 
religion  and  ethics — with  religion  and  dogma  predomi- 
nant. 

Yet  to  me  there  is  something  distinctly  tangible  and 
worth  while  about  the  moujik's  religion.  It  is  "o'  the 
very  stuff  of  life  and  self  of  self."  Call  it  idolatrous, 
call  it  casually  habitual,  call  it  what  you  will — it  is 
the  foundation  of  his  life,  he  feeds  on  it,  leans  on  it, 
and  when  the  end  comes  it  helps  him  die  happy  and 
confident. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  BUSINESS  MAN 

UNTIL  the  war  started,  the  best  Russian  busi- 
ness men  were  Germans.  For  the  ex- 
traordinary fact  about  the  Russian  as  a  busi- 
ness man  is  that  he  is  such  a  poor  business  man — ^judg- 
ing him  by  American  standards  of  business  efficiency. 
The  concept  of  public  service  which  is  fast  becoming 
the  foundation  of  all  our  commerce  and  industry  is 
a  lesson  the  average  Russian  merchant  has  still  to  learn. 
The  principles  of  business  cooperation,  and  sometimes 
even  of  personal  business  honesty,  have  still  to  be  mas- 
tered. In  this,  as  in  so  many  other  phases,  Russia  is 
a  gauche  adolescent. 


Much  has  been  written  of  late  about  Russian  credits 
and  commercial  hands  across  the  seas.  America,  rich 
in  gold  and  efficient  in  business  methods  at  home,  seeks 
new  markets  in  the  great  Slav  Empire.  This  is  as  it 
should  be.  Russia  is  an  importing  nation  rather  than 
an  exporting;  she  needs  our  wares  and  we  need  her 
trade.  Doubtless  the  day  will  come  when  the  United 
States  and  Russia  will  be  the  two  great  commercial 
nations  of  the  world.  Meantime,  there  are  many  les- 
sons for  both  peoples  to  learn  and  great  improvements 
to  be  made  on  either  side. 

131 


132     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

While  every  effort  will  be  made  by  Berlin  and  by 
London  to  capture  Russian  credits  and  Russian  mar- 
kets after  the  war,  the  fact  remains  that  Russia  is  old 
enough  now  to  carry  her  own  dinner  pail,  and  that 
America  can  both  furnish  the  pail  and  put  something 
into  it.  The  vast  resources  of  her  arable  lands — ^her 
wheat  lands  in  European  Russia  alone  are  larger  than 
the  American  fields — will  always  keep  her  an  agricul- 
tural country,  yet  the  growth  of  her  industries,  the 
growth  of  her  mining,  petroleum  and  railway  projects 
has  already  made  her  a  power  in  industry  worthy  of 
American  consideration. 

To  the  average  American  merchant  intent  on  finding 
a  new  market  for  his  wares,  these  questions  generally 
arise : 

"Can  I  sell  him  anything*?" 

"How  good  pay  is  he*?" 

"What  can  he  sell  me?' 

This  simple  analysis  has  formed  the  basis  of  Amer- 
ican commerce  abroad.  Because  it  does  not  fully  cover 
the  situation,  our  markets  in  foreign  parts  are  not  as 
secure  as  they  might  be.  Time  and  again  American 
exporters  find  themselves  beaten  out  and  undersold  by 
foreign  firms.  Especially  is  this  true  in  South  Amer- 
ica. We  have  not  gone  much  beyond  asking  ourselves 
in  a  self-admiring  sort  of  way,  "Well,  I  wonder  what 
I  can  get  the  South  American  to  buy^" 

The  German  has  done  it  much  better.  He  has  sent 
agents  out  to  study  the  requirements  of  the  markets. 
The  merchant  in  Berlin  has  a  fairly  clear  notion  of 
the  sort  of  people  who  are  buying  his  wares  in  South 
America,  what  the  consignees  are  like,  what  the  jour- 
ney from  Hamburg  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  requires  of  a 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  BUSINESS  MAN         133 

package  and  in  what  shape  the  native  merchant  wants 
to  receive  his  consignment.  With  all  our  boasted  in- 
dustrial efficiency,  Americans  have  even  failed  to  learn 
how  to  wrap  packages  so  that  they  will  ship  safely  to 
South  America!  Our  wares  are  poorly  crated  and 
marked  in  English — which  not  one  native  in  a  thou- 
sand understands.  And  so  the  German  trader,  whose 
base  of  supplies  is  1 1 ,000  miles  away,  wins  in  the  com- 
petition with  the  American  exporter  who  has  to  send 
his  goods  only  a  scant  6,000  miles. 

I  have  dwelt  at  some  length  on  the  South  American 
situation  because  it  finds  its  parallel  in  Russia.  On 
the  wharves  at  Archangel  are  thousands  of  crates  from 
America,  scores  of  them  stenciled  in  red,  "This  Side 
Up,"  "Glass,"  "Use  No  Hooks,"  "Handle  With 
Care."  Imagine  the  bewilderment  of  the  moujik  long- 
shoresman  at  such  cabalistic  signs  I  ^  He  hasn't  the 
slightest  notion  what  they  are  all  about,  so  he  wields 
his  hook  valiantly  and  tumbles  the  cases  upside  down, 
and  laughs  at  the  funny  tinkle  the  crates  make  inside. 
And  the  Russian  merchant,  in  turn,  wonders  what  sort 
of  fool  the  American  merchant  must  be  that  he  sends 
him  broken  goods! 

In  doing  business  with  Russia  the  American  export- 
er's first  problem  should  not  be  about  what  he  can  per- 
suade the  Russian  to  buy,  but  "What  is  the  Russian 
merchant  like?"  "What  sort  of  people  does  he  sell 
to?"  "What  are  the  needs  of  those  people  individually 
and  collectively?" 

The  best  way  to  settle  such  questions  is  for  the  mer- 

*In  1916  the  Russian  Government  transported  several  thousands  of 
Buriats  from  Central  Asia  to  act  as  longshoresmen  on  the  wharves 
at  Archangel.  Few  of  them  can  speak  Russian,  much  less  read  it — 
which  adds  to  the  humor  of  this  situation. 


134     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

chant  to  go  to  Russia  himself  and  find  out.  Certainly 
he  will  not  want  for  a  hearty  welcome ;  no  people  under 
the  sun  are  more  hospitable  than  the  Russ.  In  lieu 
of  that  he  can  send  a  representative.  American  colleges 
each  year  graduate  scores  of  men  who  can  speak  French 
and  German,  bright,  brisk  young  lads  with  an  eye  to 
business  who,  after  a  year  or  so  studying  the  home 
plant  and  its  output,  could  be  sent  to  Russia  to  scout 
around  for  the  answer  to  these  questions.  Or,  if  that 
is  not  feasible,  the  manufacturer  can  avail  himself  of 
our  Consular  Trade  Reports,  which  are  the  most  up- 
to-date  and  efficient  of  all  the  nations — even  the  Brit- 
ish concede  this.  Finally,  the  American  exporter  may 
find  it  to  his  interest  to  communicate  with  the  Amer- 
ican-Russian Chamber  of  Commerce  in  New  York, 
which  was  organized  in  1916  for  the  purpose  of  en- 
couraging and  promoting  a  closer  union  in  industry, 
commerce  and  finance,  and  "to  create  bonds  of  mutual 
sympathy  between  the  two  great  nations — Russia  and 
the  United  States."  Its  motto  is,  "To  be  close  to 
Russia  means  first  of  all  to  know,  to  understand 
Russia." 

Just  what  form  the  actual  exporting  might  take  can 
best  be  learned  from  the  experience  of  other  nations. 
The  Germans,  who  know  more  about  Russian  trade 
than  any  other  people,  have  given  up  the  idea  of 
branch  houses  as  impractical.  The  English  have  about 
reached  the  same  conclusion.  Instead,  they  have  lately 
been  developing  the  market  through  travelers  who 
carry  large  assortments  of  samples,  quote  prices 
F.O.B.  a  Russian  port  and,  if  necessary,  include  the 
price  of  duty  and  local  delivery  in  their  estimate  of 
the  cost.    The  American  merchant,  once  he  has  learned 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  BUSINESS  MAN         135 

the  needs  of  the  market,  had  best  employ  a  Russian 
selling  agent  or  avail  himself  of  the  facilities  of  an 
exporting  iirai.  For  the  convenience  of  local  dealers, 
he  should  see  to  it  that  prices,  sizes,  weights,  etc.,  are 
worked  out  in  Russian  figures  and  that  packages  are 
marked  so  that  the  native  can  read  them. 

In  the  course  of  her  development  in  the  next  few 
decades  Russia  will  require  many  kinds  of  articles,  but 
the  two  that  America  is  best  fitted  to  furnish  are  good 
machinery  and  high-class  fabrics.  We  have  already 
made  a  name  for  American  machinery  in  Russia  but 
we  have  still  to  create  a  demand  for  such  luxuries  as 
fine  silk  underwear  and  stockings  and  the  higher  grades 
of  woolen  articles.  We  cannot  compete  with  the  low- 
priced  labor  of  Japan  and  Germany  and  Russia  itself 
in  furnishing  a  cheap  line  of  these  goods.  Our  best 
opportunity  is  to  create  a  market  for  American  luxuries. 
When  a  woman  buys  perfume  in  Russia  she  asks  for 
French  perfume,  despite  the  fact  that  some  very  fine 
scents  are  made  in  Moscow.  There  is  no  reason  why, 
with  proper  development  of  the  market,  that  same 
woman  should  not  habitually  ask  for  American  silk 
underwear  and  silk  stockings  and  fine  woolens. 


II 

In  dealing  with  Russian  merchants,  Americans  must 
remember  that  there  are  methods  and  concepts  of  busi- 
ness widely  differing  from  his  own.  The  Russian  mer- 
chant has  still  much  of  the  East  in  his  veins.  He  is 
accustomed  to  the  interminably  slow  methods  of  the 
East,  to  haggling,  to  looking  for  his  own  little  back- 
sheesh, to  enjoying  the  advantages  of  long  credits,  and 


136     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

to  having  a  thoroughly  good  time.  Moreover,  this 
merchant  has  to  deal  with  hosts  of  people  who  neither 
read  nor  write  and  to  whom  ocular  proof  is  the  only 
advertisement. 

Enter  a  Russian  bank,  for  example.  The  business 
is  usually  conducted  on  the  second  floor,  as  second- 
story  men  have  not  become  so  expert  in  Russia  as  here. 
At  the  front  door  stands  a  soldier  in  unifonn,  a  saber 
at  his  side  and  a  bayoneted  gun  over  his  shoulder.  You 
mount  the  stairs.  Another  soldier,  armed  to  the  teeth, 
stands  on  the  landing.  You  step  on  to  the  banking 
floor.  A  third  soldier  eyes  you  from  the  corner.  You 
have  a  notion  that  you've  blundered  into  a  barracks 
by  mistake.  You  are  quite  wrong.  The  soldiers  are 
there  to  assure  the  people  that  their  funds  are  being 
safely  guarded.  It  is  another  phase  of  the  ocular  proof 
that  the  native  requires. 

You  step  up  to  the  cash  window  and  present  your 
checks.  The  teller  is  playing  with  an  abacus — our 
electric-run  counting  machines  are  practically  unknown 
in  Russian  banks.  Courteously,  although  a  bit  lan- 
guidly, he  receives  your  papers  and  asks  you  to  wait. 
You  retire  to  a  corner.  Fifteen  minutes  pass,  twenty, 
half  an  hour.  You  step  up  to  the  window  to  see  what 
action  you  can  get.  The  teller  and  the  other  clerks 
are  drinking  tea  and  nibbling  snacks  of  luncheon.  You 
go  back  to  your  seat  wondering  what  it  is  all  about. 

The  fact  is  that  the  Russian  banker,  merchant,  ma- 
chinist, day  laborer — all  classes,  in  fact — stop  at  eleven 
and  four  for  tea.  To  drink  unboiled  water  in  Russia 
is  to  fly  in  the  face  of  Providence,  so  tea  is  regularly 
served  out  twice  a  day  and  many  times  in  between. 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  BUSINESS  MAN         137 

This,  of  course,  halts  the  wheels  of  industry  and  bank- 
ing, but  you  must  accustom  yourself  to  it. 

Finally,  when  tea  is  over,  the  matter  of  your  checks 
is  taken  up  again,  and  after  half  an  hour  or  more,  you 
are  handed  over  to  a  higher  official.  He  will  chat 
with  you  pleasantly  about  America,  about  relatives 
he  has  there,  about  the  Woolworth  Tower,  the  Singer 
Building,  the  Grand  Canon  and  the  rest  of  the  seven 
wonders  of  America.  He  will  be  persistent,  for  even 
the  busiest  Russian  is  courteous  enough  to  show  in- 
terest in  you  and  your  land.  When  you  have  satisfied 
him  with  bits  of  news  from  America,  he  will,  like  as 
not,  ask  you  personal  questions — "Have  you  been  to 
Russia  before*?"  "What  do  you  think  of  our  tea? 
Our  churches'?  Our  music*?  Our  cigarettes'?  Our 
padded  isvostiks?" 

Then  about  two  hours  after  you  have  entered  the 
building,  you  begin  to  see  light  ahead.  And  when  a 
good  part  of  the  day  has  passed,  you  are  able  to  take 
your  leave  of  the  banker  and  pass  between  the  rows 
of  sentries  again  to  the  street. 

All  this  is  very  exasperating  to  an  American  to  whom 
the  business  of  cashing  a  traveler's  check  is  only  a  mat- 
ter of  seconds,  but  it  is  the  way  of  the  Russ,  and  one 
must  do  as  the  Russians  do  so  long  as  he  deals  with 
them.  There  is  no  use  trying  to  talk  about  American 
speed  and  efficiency;  it  will  be  like  speaking  in  a  for- 
eign tongue.  The  Russian  is  slow,  he  likes  being  slow, 
he  has  been  slow  for  generations.  But,  despite  that, 
he  manages  to  accomplish  a  fair  amount  of  business. 

I  am  often  tempted  to  think  that  one  reason  why 
the  Russian  merchant  is  such  a  poor  business  man  is 
that  he  is  too  fond  of  enjoying  himself.     Eating  and 


138     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

drinking  must  be  the  king  of  indoor  sports  for  this  Russ. 
The  proverbial  protracted  New  York  business  luncheon 
is  only  a  hasty  bite  compared  with  the  collation  the 
Russian  sits  down  to  in  mid-afternoon.  Business  is 
such  a  bother  and  eating  is  such  fun  that,  on  the  whole, 
the  Russian  merchant  would  rather  eat. 

There  is  another  way  of  looking  at  the  same  situa- 
tion. The  Russian  has  learned  a  salient  truth  that 
Americans  utterly  lack.  He  believes — and  acts  ac- 
cordingly— that  it  is  far  more  important  to  make  a 
life  than  to  make  a  living.  According  to  his  stand- 
ards, American  business  men  are  merely  machines, 
slaves  to  commerce,  dollar  grabbers.  The  more  I  see 
of  American  business,  the  more  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  there  is  much  to  be  said  for  this  Russian  view. 

Despite  your  efforts  to  the  contrary,  the  Russian  mer- 
chant will  insist  on  bartering.  Americans  sell,  Rus- 
sians haggle.  Russia  has  not  yet  grown  out  of  the  habit 
of  fairs  where  haggling  is  a  fine  art.  Nijni  Novgorod 
is  still  a  big  factor  in  her  business  year,  and  there  are 
hundreds  of  such  fairs  on  a  smaller  scale  all  over  the 
Empire  where  you  buy  everything  from  Singer  Sew- 
ing-machines to  fossil  mastodon  ivory. 

Likewise,  the  Russian  merchant  is  often  amenable 
to  a  personal  financial  inducement.  Add  to  every  bid 
made  in  Russia  about  25%  for  distribution  among 
worthy  traders,  and  you  have  struck  a  safe  average  on 
which  to  do  business.  This  may  be  lamentable,  but 
it  is  true,  and  one  must  adjust  himself  to  the  situation. 
One  will  find  that  in  practically  every  walk  of  life  and 
in  every  sort  of  business,  there  are  Russians  capable 
of  being  bribed;  more,  they  expect  to  be  bribed. 

Here  again  is  a  situation  an  American  merchant  may 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  BUSINESS  MAN         139 

fail  to  comprehend.  Imagine,  if  you  can,  a  New  York 
merchant  being  amenable  to  a  bribe.  .  .  .  But  possi- 
bly you  can  imagine  it  I  The  Russian  is  out  and  out 
in  his  dickering  about  such  things.  On  the  whole,  we 
are  more  honest  than  the  Russian,  but  I  am  inclined 
to  believe  that  the  difference  is  merely  a  matter  of  the 
terms  we  use  and  that  no  invidious  comparisons  can 
be  made.  Russia  is  young  in  business,  her  methods  are 
the  blunt,  stumbling  methods  of  youth.  Some  day  she 
may  become  polished  and  subtle  in  commerce,  and 
then  we  will  call  her  shrewd,  capable,  masterly  I 

The  classic  example  of  graft  in  Russia  happened 
during  the  building  of  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway. 
We  generally  conceive  of  that  railroad  as  a  straight 
line  cleaving  the  heart  of  the  continent.  Far  from  it. 
When  the  road  was  building  a  brilliant  band  of  agents 
traveled  ahead  of  the  construction  gangs  and  visited 
the  city  fathers  of  the  towns  on  the  proposed  route. 
They  told  what  the  proximity  of  the  railroad  would 
mean  to  the  town,  and  in  glowing  colors  painted  the 
far-famed  American  "boost."  Then  the  agents  got 
down  to  business;  for  such  and  such  considerations 
they  would  see  that  the  line  came  to  the  town,  etc., 
etc.  Tomsk,  then  the  largest  city  in  Siberia,  waved 
these  agents  away.  Tomsk  could  afford  to.  But  the 
agents  made  good  their  word.  The  tracks  were  run 
south  of  Tomsk  by  48  miles,  and  to-day  the  intellectual 
and  mining  center  of  Siberia  is  on  a  branch  line  I 

The  results  of  this  tariff  can  be  seen  all  along  the 
route  to-day.  Here  is  the  station  settlement;  yonder 
on  the  horizon  is  the  suggestion  of  the  town.  When 
the  agents  came  to  explain  to  Petersburg  the  snaking 
of  the  line,  they  offered  a  plausible  excuse — had  the 


140     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

railroad  gone  through  the  center  of  the  towns  they 
would  not  grow  so  rapidly  as  though  it  were  laid  some 
distance  away;  as  it  was,  the  towns  would  now  grow 
to  the  railroad.  And  this,  luckily,  is  what  has  hap- 
pened I 

Another  outcropping  of  the  East  can  be  seen  in  the 
Russian's  readiness  to  go  into  bankruptcy,  and  his  in- 
sistence on  long-time  payments.  Here  are  two  situa- 
tions against  which  the  American  exporter  must  safe- 
guard himself.  Until  recently,  the  money  in  Russia 
was  tied  up  in  the  hands  of  the  few;  with  the  growth 
of  industries  consequent  on  the  war  and  just  previous 
to  it,  much  of  the  money  has  been  transferred  to  the 
people.  This  distribution  will  result  in  a  more  healthy 
financial  situation.  Instead  of  spending  their  money, 
as  heretofore,  for  vodka,  the  common  people  have  been 
saving  it,  and  with  the  increased  business  sense  that 
comes  from  abstinence  from  drink,  will  come  intelli- 
gence in  spending  money  and  conscientiousness  in  pay- 
ing debts. 

Several  American  firms  have  met  this  situation  by 
the  installment-paying  plan,  and  they  have  been  suc- 
cessful. The  results  have  come  slowly,  but  they  have 
come  through  this  patience  and  belief  in  the  people. 
American  sewing-machines,  American  harvesters,  Amer- 
ican lamps  will  be  seen  in  every  part  of  the  Russian 
Empire.  They  are  there  to  stay,  despite  German  com- 
petition, because  in  these  instances  American  goods 
are  superior  to  others  and  because  American  merchants 
have  met  the  Russian  consumer  on  his  own  ground. 

Trade  with  Russia  must,  of  necessity,  be  built  up 
slowly.  It  must  have  its  basis  in  a  mutual  understand- 
ing of  the  two  peoples  concerned. 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  BUSINESS  MAN         141 

III 

The  other  day  a  banker  asked  me  these  two  leading 
questions : 

"Why  is  it  so  difficult  for  us  to  float  a  Russian  loan 
whereas,  during  the  Japanese  War,  we  had  no  trouble 
in  floating  a  Japanese  loan^" 

"Is  there  any  chance  of  Russia  repudiating  her  debts 
accrued  during  this  war*?" 

My  answers  took  the  following  form : 

During  the  Japanese  War,  Japanese  bonds  were 
hawked  about  America  and  they  had  the  backing  of 
Jewish  banking  firms.  Scarcely  a  Jewish  pawnbroker 
in  America  but  was  approached  to  buy  them.  Hun- 
dreds did.  You  can  never  consider  any  financial  situ- 
ation regarding  Russia  without  taking  into  account 
the  bitter  hatred  of  the  Jew  for  the  Russian.  It  comes 
out  in  a  thousand  different  little  ways,  and  it  has  as 
many  sources  of  power  to  draw  on.  There  is  as  much 
to  say  against  the  Jewish  methods  as  there  is  against 
Russia's  methods  in  handling  the  Jewish  problem;  the 
blame  is  about  equally  divided.  Meantime,  neither 
will  concede  the  other  a  point  and  the  fight  is  a  draw, 
with  Russians  always  quiescently  and  sometimes  vio- 
lently anti-Semitic,  and  the  Jews  actively  anti-Russian 
in  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 

German  influence  has  also  to  be  counted.  As  they 
used  to  say  in  Europe,  of  all  the  colonies  Germany  pos- 
sessed, Russia  was  the  most  profitable.  The  industries 
were  almost  entirely  in  German  hands  and  much  of 
the  mining  was  maintained  by  German  money.  Ger- 
man influence  was  so  strong  that  it  could  foment  revo- 
lutions and  call  strikes  whenever  there  was  the  slight- 


142     THE  RUSSIANS;  AN  INTERPRETATION 

est  chance  that  foreign  capital  might  endanger  Ger- 
man interests  in  Russia.  When  France  began  to  be 
financially  interested  in  Russia,  Germany  threatened 
that,  should  Russia  enter  into  an  agreement  with 
France,  she  would  consider  the  act  tantamount  to  a 
declaration  of  war.  In  short,  Germany  has  held  Rus- 
sia in  the  hollow  of  her  financial  hand,  and  she  will  use 
every  available  influence  in  other  lands  against  the 
floating  of  Russian  loans. 

In  1904  Germany  exported  goods  to  Russia  valued 
at  50,000,000  marks;  by  1913  she  had  raised  those 
export  figures  to  800,000,000  marks.  When  Russia 
came  out  of  the  Japanese  conflict,  she  was  weakened 
commercially.  It  was  a  war  of  governments  and  not  of 
peoples.  Germany  knew  this  all  too  well.  She  dick- 
ered with  the  Russian  Government  and  found  its  price. 
Russia  was  forced  into  signing  a  commercial  treaty  that 
was  thoroughly  one-sided,  and  in  the  years  that  fol- 
lowed Germany  reaped  every  possible  benefit  from 
the  arrangement. 

If  Russia  can  free  herself  from  the  German  indus- 
trial and  commercial  yoke,  if  the  German  merchants 
(there  are  some  400,000  of  them  now  interned  in  Rus- 
sia) are  made  to  return  to  their  own  country  after 
the  war,  then  there  will  be  a  legitimate  chance  for  fair 
competition  for  Russian  markets.  Fortunately,  Rus- 
sia has  had  sufficient  power  to  keep  a  hold  on  some  of 
her  industries  and  during  the  war  to  develop  other 
industries.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that,  after  peace  is  de- 
clared, she  will  hold  her  own  against  a  repetition  of 
Teutonic  commercial  subjugation. 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  BUSINESS  MAN        143 

IV 

The  idea  of  Russia's  repudiating  her  debts  is  rather 
fantastic.  A  nation  repudiates  its  debts  only  when  it 
is  permitted  to  do  so.  Were  Russia  utterly  lacking 
in  natural  resources  and  were  she  not  allied  with  pow- 
ers that  have  strong  financial  foundations  and  keen 
financial  understanding,  one  might  fear  for  Russia's 
future  action.  But  she  has  endless  resources  and  un- 
told wealth,  and  she  is  leagued  with  nations  that  hold 
her  so  in  their  debt  that  they  can  not  only  guide  but 
even  force  her  hand,  if  that  is  necessary. 

France,  which  among  the  powers  has  the  clearest 
understanding  of  international  finance,  was  not  loath 
to  loan  Russia  money.  Should  she  permit  Russia  to 
repudiate  her  debts,  thousands  of  French  investors 
would  be  wiped  out.  England  has  done  the  same. 
Russia  owes  too  much  money  to  repudiate  a  copeck  of 
her  debts. 

In  the  great  game  of  dollars  that  underlay  this  con- 
flict, Germany  placed  her  money  on  the  wrong  horse. 
She  believed  that  she  held  sufficient  power  at  Fetro- 
grad  to  control  the  Russian  Government,  even  though 
Russia  were  her  enemy.  Constant  rumors  of  a  sep- 
arate peace,  drifting  out  from  Berlin  news  agencies, 
indicated  this  belief  to  be  strong  even  as  late  as  the 
fall  of  1916.  Even  at  that  hour  Germany's  horse  was 
leading  in  Russia.  Then  came  the  flare-up  between 
the  Douma  and  the  Government,  between  the  people 
and  the  pro-German  element  at  Petrograd;  Germany 
discovered  that  this  was  a  people's  war  and  that  the 
people  were  dictating  to  their  Government.  In  1902 
the  war  was  a  juggling  of  finance;  in  1914-16,  it  be- 


144     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

came  a  conflict  of  ideals,  the  struggle  of  the  Russian 
people  to  assert  their  own  nationality  in  their  own  land. 

Upon  the  Russian  people,  upon  their  willingness  to 
work  in  legitimate  competition  and  just  cooperation 
will  depend  the  development  of  Russian  resources. 

A  nation  is  no  longer  great  merely  for  its  statesmen, 
but  great  because  of  its  workers — its  farmers,  its  pud- 
dlers,  its  spinners,  its  shopkeepers.  In  these  Russia  is 
great  indeed.  She  has  the  workers  and  the  raw  ma- 
terial and  the  willingness.  The  productivity  of  the 
people  has  increased  40%  during  the  war.  Russia  now 
needs  only  capital  to  develop  these  vast  resources  and 
to  bring  them  to  the  markets  of  the  world. 

She  needs  railroads.  Even  though  the  war  has  com- 
manded most  of  the  Government's  attention,  there  has 
been  found  sufficient  time,  funds  and  energy  to  push 
ahead  the  work  on  new  lines  that  total  some  8,000 
miles  through  untouched  parts  of  the  Empire.  There 
are  45,000  miles  of  railroads  in  operation  to-day.^ 
Two-thirds  of  them  are  operated  by  the  Government, 
the  other  third  being  owned  and  operated  by  private 
companies  working  under  State  control  and  with  State 
guarantee.  Plans  are  now  made  for  the  completion  of 
25,000  miles  of  tracks  by  the  end  of  1922,  in  addition 
to  thousands  of  miles  of  canals. 

The  Trans-Siberian  has  been  double-tracked  through- 
out its  entire  length ;  the  Amur  Railroad,  which  reaches 
over  the  shoulder  of  North  Manchuria,  has  finally  been 
completed;  and  a  line  extending  from  the  Caspian 
across  southwest  Asia  to  Minusinsk  and  up  to  the  trunk 

*  In  European  Russia  there  are  i6  miles  of  railroad  per  thousand 
square  miles  of  territory;  in  Asiatic  Russia,  2.  Compare  this  with 
other  nations:  In  the  United  States,  65  miles;  in  France,  142;  in 
Germany,   176;  in  Great  Britain,   181. 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  BUSINESS  MAN        145 

line  of  the  Trans-Siberian  is  now  about  finished.  Each 
of  these  means  the  opening  up  of  great  stretches  of 
territory.  The  Amur  and  its  subsidiary  lines  link  the 
Lena  gold  fields  with  the  outer  world,  territory  as  rich 
if  not  richer  than  our  Klondike,  and  the  Trans-Caspian 
brings  the  immense  wheat  and  cattle  lands  into  touch 
with  their  markets. 

In  these  railroads  will  be  found  another  answer  to 
the  rumor  of  Russia's  repudiating  her  debts,  for  in  them 
lies  the  future  development  of  the  Empire.  Consid- 
ered as  a  whole,  Russia  to-day  is  in  about  the  same  state 
as  the  Dakotas  were  thirty  years  ago,  when  the  rail- 
roads were  just  breaking  through  to  open  up  the  rich 
land  to  settlers  and  commerce. 


The  lack  of  an  all-year  port  has  been  the  greatest  de- 
terrent to  Russian  commercial  progress.  It  has  forced 
her  to  play  into  Geniian  hands.  On  all  sides  she  is 
faced  with  alien  control.  In  the  south  the  Turk  has 
maintained  his  grip  on  the  Dardanelles ;  England  holds 
the  Persian  Gulf;  Japan  holds  Dalny  and  a  goodly 
strip  of  the  Liaotung  Peninsula.  Archangel  and  Vladi- 
vostok are  frozen  tight  as  drums  for  several  months 
each  year.  The  new  port  of  Alexandrovsk  on  the 
White  Sea  is  free  from  ice  all  the  year,  and  a  new  trunk 
line  links  it  up  with  the  chief  branches  that  radiate 
from  Petrograd  and  Moscow.  While  Alexandrovsk 
will  help  the  situation  somewhat,  Russia  can  never 
grow  commercially  until  she  has  a  warm  water  outlet 
for  her  immense  stores.     That  she  would  be  awarded 


146     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

this  in  Constantinople,  has  been  the  dream  of  her  peo- 
ple in  this  war. 

Self-contained  though  she  is,  Russia  requires  the  con- 
tact of  commerce  to  develop  her.  She  needs  to  rub 
up  against  other  nations.  Too  long  has  she  been  iso- 
lated and  exploited  by  one  power.  Her  rich  wheat 
fields,  her  bountiful  oil  supplies,  her  gold  deposits,  her 
platinum  mines,  her  cattle  and  her  timber — all  these 
she  has  to  offer  the  world.  The  Continent  needs  her 
wheat,  her  butter,  her  meat.  Under  the  guise  of 
Danish  butter,  England  eats  the  Russian  product  regu- 
larly. New  York  tasted  Siberian  butter  in  the  winter 
of  1913-4.  Russian  butter  on  American  bread — what 
a  combination  to  contemplate ! 

Once  let  Russia  open  her  granaries  directly  to  the 
world  through  the  Dardanelles,  and  the  food  situation 
both  on  the  Continent  and  in  America  will  be  radically 
changed.  Chicago  will  be  forced  out  of  her  wheat-pit 
deals  against  the  American  people.  But  so  long  as  this, 
the  second  greatest  granary  of  the  world,  is  closed,  and 
no  competition  is  permitted,  our  wheat  kings  will  have 
us  at  their  mercy. 

VI 

There  have  been  some  grand  times  in  Russian  history 
when  the  Government,  with  a  fine  disregard  for  con- 
sequences, has  followed  the  dictates  of  its  conscience, 
when  the  Tsar,  with  the  mystic  fortitude  of  an  early 
Christian,  has  ordered  reforms  for  his  people  that  shiv- 
ered the  nation  to  its  very  foundations.  The  freeing 
of  the  serfs  in  the  '6o's  of  the  20th  Century  was  one 
such  time,  and  the  prohibition  of  vodka  another. 

The  effect  of  the  vodka  prohibition  on  the  people 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  BUSINESS  MAN         147 

has  been  touched  on  elsewhere.  Let  us  see  what  hap- 
pened to  the  Government.  Forthwith  it  lost  its  largest 
single  item  of  revenue — it  came  to  $450,000,000  in 
1913.^  Had  the  ukase  been  promulgated  in  times  of 
peace,  the  immediate  economic  situation  would  have 
been  bad  enough.  As  it  was  a  time  of  war,  it  threw 
Russia's  finances  into  utter  chaos.  This  reform  was 
purely  idealistic,  a  mad  movement  for  the  attaining 
of  a  dream,  uninfluenced  by  any  self-interest  on  the 
part  of  the  Government.  Yet  other  industries  have 
been  found  v>^hich  will  eventually  bring  the  hungry 
state  an  equal  measure  of  revenue  without  endangering 
the  health  and  morals  of  the  people. 

Thus  far  the  railroad  monopoly  has  not  paid  the 
Government,  and  such  profits  as  are  being  made  are 
regularly  turned  back  into  further  development.  The 
Government's  best  chance  for  a  paying  monopoly,  then, 
is  to  bridle  one  or  more  of  the  many  syndicates  that 
regularly  trade  in  Russia.  There  is  much  talk  of  the 
sugar  industry's  being  taken  over,  some  of  the  match 
and  tea  industries.  The  sugar  monopoly  ought  to  net 
the  Government  not  less  than  $50,000,000  a  year,  the 
sugar  beet  industry  being  one  of  the  principal  develop- 
ments of  the  agricultural  life  of  European  Russia. 
Over  2,000,000  acres  are  devoted  to  sugar  beets  alone, 
and  the  annual  export  of  refined  sugar  averages  200,- 
000  tons  per  annum. 

The  consumption  of  tea  in  Russia  is  quite  beyond 
ordinary  comprehension.     When  one  reads   that   the 

*  It  is  interesting  to  note  that,  while  Russia  with  a  population  of 
182,000,000  spent  $450,000,000  for  liquor  in  1913,  Great  Britain's  bill 
came  to  $835,000,000  and  the  United  States  to  $1,750,000,000.  These 
figures,  however,  must  not  be  construed  as  placing  Russia  at  the  foot 
of  the  list  in  liquor  consumption,  the  extreme  cheapness  of  the  vodka 
being  a  qualifying  factor. 


148     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

Empire  drinks  up  166,000,000  pounds  of  tea  each  year, 
he  can  immediately  see  another  industry  that  the  Gov- 
ernment might  monopolize  for  the  increase  of  reve- 
nue. Already  the  Government  owns  the  largest  of  the 
five  tea  factories  in  the  Empire, 

The  Russian  Government  has  no  intention  of  re- 
turning to  its  previous  liquor  monopoly  and  has  stated 
so  emphatically  through  its  Minister  of  Finance,  M. 
Barck.  In  other  words,  the  Government  does  not  in- 
tend that  the  nation  shall  slip  back  into  the  pitfall  of 
drink  that  kept  it  in  darkness  for  so  many  years. 

It  is  with  a  sober,  frugal  Russia  that  the  American 
merchant  will  have  to  deal,  a  nation  alert  to  its  oppor- 
tunities and  keenly  alive  to  its  resources.  Let  an  in- 
fusion of  American  business  methods  and  competitive 
acumen  be  introduced  into  Russian  commerce,  and  the 
world  will  stand  in  awe  of  the  results. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE  RUSSIAN   AS  A  WORKING  MAN 


ON  the  heights  above  Fersoova  we  fell  among 
artelchiks.  The  hare  track  that  skirts  the 
Shilka  Ridge  was  too  narrow  at  that  point, 
and  too  slippery  for  our  ponies  and  the  workmen  to 
pass  abreast.  Besides,  passers-by  on  the  Shilka  Trakt 
are  few — that  is,  desirable  passers-by.  Trans-Baikalia 
bears  an  unenviable  reputation  for  brodaji^  the  mur- 
derous vagrants  and  escaped  convicts  of  Siberia.  But 
these  strangers  appeared  harmless  enough,  despite  their 
fearsome  beards. 

They  were  fully  a  dozen  stalwart,  middle-aged  men 
led  by  an  ancient  of  days  bearing  a  kit  of  carpenter's 
tools.  Some  had  bulging  sacks  slung  over  their  shoul- 
ders, some  tea  kettles  dangling  at  their  belts.  All  were 
poorly  clothed — rude  sheepskin  tulups  or  great  coats, 
gaudy  red  and  blue  work  shirts,  with  tails  flaunting 
above  trouser  tops,  knee-high  boots,  and  black  sugar- 
loaf  sheep-skin  hats.  They  were  journeying  up  the 
river  to  Blagowestchensk  to  build  a  house,  they  said. 
Yes,  we  were  right,  they  formed  an  artel^  one  of  those 
communistic  bands  of  workmen  that  comprise  the 
nucleus  of  the  Russian  peasant  industrial  system.  True 
to  Russian  hospitality,  they  begged  us  to  ride  back  to 

149 


150     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

a  clearing  in  the  wood  where  a  fire  could  be  built  and 
tea  made.  And  there  it  was  that  we  talked  of  artels 
and  cooperation,  and  all  those  unaccountable  socialistic 
things  that  exist  in  the  heart  of  autocratic  Moscovy. 

"So  you  are  Americanski,"  began  the  ancient  after 
the  manner  of  the  peasant.  "Americanski.  ...  A 
great  country  yours.    Every  one  gets  rich  in  America." 

"No,  only  a  few  are  rich,"  I  hastened  to  assure  him. 
"The  working  people  are  mostly  poor — and  most 
every  one  works." 

"And  do  they  have  artels ^'^ 

"They  have  unions.  ..." 

"No,  artels^  like  we  are.  I  have  read  of  your  unions. 
We  can't  have  them  here.  They're  not  allowed."  He 
seemed  to  catch  the  look  of  confusion  on  my  face  and 
went  on  to  explain.  "We  work  together,  we  men.  We 
are  a  carpenter's  artel.  When  you  want  to  build  a 
house,  you  hire  us.  When  you  pay,  you  pay  me.  I 
take  the  money  and  pay  the  expenses  and  then  we  share 
up.    I  am  the  starostaP 

He  went  on  further  to  explain  how  the  artel  works, 
how  it  may  be  devoted  to  one  trade  or  a  part  of  one 
trade  or  to  several  trades,  but  the  rule  holds  through- 
out that  the  members  earn  share  and  share  alike.  A 
leader  known  as  the  starosta  is  chosen,  and  upon  him 
devolves  the  management  of  the  band's  affairs.  He 
arranges  for  passports,  seeks  out  work,  provides  tools, 
materials  and  supplies,  collects  wages  and  distributes 
the  profits  equally. 

When  he  had  finished  and  was  sipping  noisily  the 
hot  tea,  we  sat  wondering  where  else  on  the  globe  was 
there  such  confidence  in  the  honesty  of  a  leader.  Had 
we  discovered  Utopia  here  in  the  heart  of  Siberia*?  We 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN        151 

let  the  question  rest  for  a  time,  and  satisfied  ourselves 
with  asking  if  all  the  artels  wandered  about  from  place 
to  place. 

"Not  all,"  he  said  thoughtfully,  "but  you  meet  us 
everywhere."  And  he  swept  the  horizon  with  an  in- 
clusive gesture.  "On  every  road,  on  every  farm,  in 
every  town  and  city  from  Vilna  to  Vladivostok  you 
will  find  us.  Even  in  the  baron's  houses  the  servants 
will  form  an  artel;  even  the  convicts  and  the  exiles  do 
the  same.  Some  stay  in  one  place,  others  just  wander 
about  from  place  to  place,  taking  the  work  where  they 
find  it.    Some  get  very  rich.    We  are  very  poor." 

The  last  he  had  said  not  in  any  spirit  of  discontent, 
but  just  as  a  statement  of  the  fact.  Riches  and  poverty 
alike  come  from  God,  the  faithful  Russian  believes. 

"Your  men  must  trust  you,"  we  interposed.  "Work- 
men in  America  do  not  often  trust  their  foremen  as 
your  men  do." 

He  began  to  laugh  and  stroke  his  beard,  for  the  com- 
pliment pleased  him. 

"They  aren't  like  us,  that's  why.  We  have  learned 
to  trust  each  other.  We  have  always  been  peasants," 
he  went  on  naively.  "And  for  four  hundred  years  we 
were  serfs,  bound  to  the  soil.  We  learned  in  those  long 
years  to  help  one  another  and  to  work  together.  We 
could  not  trust  our  masters,  because  they  did  us  wrong, 
so  we  clung  together.  A  peasant  is  always  a  peasant. 
We  didn't  cease  being  peasants  because  we  were  freed. 
We  ceased  being  slaves.  We  have  been  free  now  nearly 
sixty  years,  but  we  still  work  together.  That  is  why 
we  have  artels.  You  have  unions — ^yes — I  have  read 
of  them.  Instead  we  have  artels.  Unions  are  national 
— all  over  the  country — and  those  the  government  for- 


152     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

bids  here.  But  the  artel  is  just  a  few — like  we  are." 
He  fell  to  his  tea  again. 

To  the  Russian,  forming  an  artel  is  as  natural  as 
breathing.  This  seems  true  of  the  entire  peasant  body. 
Over  the  glasses,  for  example,  a  project  is  discussed, 
and  forthwith  an  artel  formed  and  a  starosta  elected. 
Next  to  no  funds  are  required,  some  artels  starting 
with  as  little  capital  as  fifteen  dollars.  The  work  may 
be  sweeping  the  streets,  building  houses,  or,  as  in  many 
sections,  the  development  of  the  kustarny^  the  cottage 
industries  for  which  Russia  has  become  famous  of  late 
years. 

As  we  went  on  our  way  down  the  trakt^  the  words 
of  the  starosta  began  to  arrange  themselves  in  their 
proper  category.  What  he  had  stated  was  the  peasant 
view  of  the  matter.  Their  power  of  cooperation  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  they  had  been  obliged  for  four 
centuries  to  cooperate  that  they  might  defend  their 
all-too-few  rights.  And  not  yet  had  they  ceased  being 
peasants,  although  they  had  been  free  men  for  half 
a  century. 

Later  in  the  journey  we  called  upon  the  president 
of  the  local  bank  at  Blagowestchensk,  the  New  York 
of  Siberia,  a  thriving  town  on  the  Amur  that  is  truly 
American  in  many  aspects.  Having  been  in  America, 
M.  Gordhon  knew  our  institutions  and  spoke  our 
tongue.  To  him  we  applied  for  the  other  side  of  the 
peasant's  story.  Yes,  our  friends  of  the  Shilka  Trakt 
had  been  right,  class  solidarity  had  been  born  of  class 
suffering. 

"But  you  must  make  this  distinction,"  he  said  with 
emphasis.  "Whereas  the  peasants  did  suffer  many 
things  and  are  suffering  them  to-day,  their  masters  have 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN        153 

not  been  altogether  cruel.  In  no  country  is  so  much 
being  done  for  the  furtherance  of  the  peasants'  in- 
terests. Have  you  seen  the  handicrafts  of  the  peas- 
ants ?{ 

We  mentioned  places  where  we  had  seen  them  for 
sale,  and  the  villages  where  they  were  being  made. 

"Well,  then  you  know.  They  are  born  artists.  And 
so  long  as  they  remain  craftsmen,  their  work  will  be 
artistic.  It  has  grown  more  artistic  as  it  came  down 
from  generation  to  generation.  These  cottage  indus- 
tries are  only  just  being  heard  of  in  the  big  world  out- 
side. London  flocks  to  an  exhibition  of  the  wares. 
Paris  goes  wild  over  them.  They  bring  large  sums  in 
New  York.  And  yet  the  cottage  industries  of  Russia 
have  been  going  on  for  generations.  You  used  to  have 
them  in  America." 

"A  few  exist  to-day,"  we  assured  him.  'Tn  Deer- 
field,  an  old  town  of  the  Connecticut  Valley,  and  at 
Hingham,  in  Massachusetts,  and  in  other  places." 

He  smiled,  "What  would  you  say  if  I  told  you  that 
there  are  ten  to  twelve  million  people  in  Russia  em- 
ployed in  cottage  industries  alone?" 

He  let  the  figure  settle  in  our  minds,  lit  another 
cigarette,  and  went  on  in  that  thoughtful  manner  bank- 
ers the  world  over  seem  to  have  when  they  discuss 
economic  matters. 

"During  the  past  twenty-five  years  Russia  has  seen 
an  unprecedented  growth  of  her  urban  industries.  The 
factory  hand  has  become  an  element  to  conjure  with. 
Foreign  capital  and  our  national  desire  to  foster  home 
industries — the  latter  furthered  by  a  high  tariff — have 
turned  many  cities  into  thriving  manufacturing  cen- 
ters.   Compare  Moscow  of  twenty-five  years  ago  with 


154     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

Moscow  to-day.  I  remember  it  as  it  was  then.  The 
growth  has  been  wonderful  I  Peasants  who  used  to 
live  on  their  crops  are  flocking  to  the  cities  in  winter. 
In  summer  many  are  back  on  the  farm  again.  The 
number  of  factory  hands  totals  over  one  and  a  half 
million,  this  not  including  Poland  and  Finland." 

"You  mean  then  that  the  cottage  industries  are  fall- 
ing off  r' 

"Quite  the  reverse,  quite.  Compare  the  figures — ten 
to  twelve  million  workers  in  the  kustarny  to  one  and  a 
half  million  workers  in  the  factories  I  No,  the  develop- 
ment of  the  kustarny  during  the  past  three  decades  has 
been  spontaneous  and  widespread  through  the  Empire. 
Whole  villages  that  used  to  depend  on  farming  for 
their  livelihood  have  now  formed  themselves  into 
artels^  and  are  working  the  full  twelve  months  at  these 
industries.  Some  fann  half  the  year  and  work  indoors 
the  rest  of  the  time.    It  is  most  astonishing." 

"But  how  do  you  account  for  such  a  contradictory 
state  of  affairs'?"  we  asked.  "There  is  no  denying  that 
the  peasant  makes  only  a  meager  living  out  of  his  crops, 
and  when  his  crops  fail  he  starves.  If  he  goes  to  the 
city,  there  is  work  in  the  factory.  He  no  longer  has 
to  bother  his  head  about  the  farm.  It  is  human  na- 
ture to  expect  the  advantages  of  the  factory  to  over- 
come his  native  attachment  to  the  soil." 

"It  may  be  human  nature,  but  it  is  not  the  Slav  na- 
ture." M.  Gordhon  replied  slowly.  "When  you 
sound  the  depths  of  the  Slav  you  will  find  that  he  ex- 
ercises to  a  remarkable  degree  what  might  be  called 
spiritual  frugality.  He  is  self-contained,  just  as  Rus- 
sia is  self-contained.  He  is  naturally  resourceful.  We 
were  speaking  of  the  cottage   industries.     They  are 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN        155 

worked  by  artels.  It  is  true  that  their  power  for 
cooperation,  as  shown  in  the  artel^  is  due  to  the  peas- 
ants' having  cooperated  for  their  own  benefit  through 
four  centuries,  but  it  is  also  true  that  the  peasant  has 
within  himself  many  talents.  He  is  primarily  the 
farmer,  the  tiller  of  the  soil,  the  man  with  the  hoe. 
But  he  has  learned  many  other  arts.  Though  he  is 
slow  to  learn  them,  years  of  training  and  years  of 
necessity  have  taught  him  to  develop  his  own  natural 
talents." 

"The  knack  for  making  things  is  not  native  with  the 
peasant^" 

"Partly  yes,  partly  no.  You  must  remember  that 
while  much  has  been  written  on  the  sufferings  of  the 
Russian  peasant  during  his  days  of  serfdom,  little  men- 
tion is  made  of  the  great  good  rendered  him  by  many 
of  his  masters.  There  are  two  sides  to  every  story,  and 
there  are  two  sides  to  his.  An  honest  and  persistent 
effort  was  made  by  many  of  the  nobility  all  over  the 
empire  to  furnish  employment  for  their  serfs  during 
those  long  winter  nights  and  days  when  inclement  and 
frigid  weather  prevented  their  tilling  the  soil.  Where 
else  than  Russia  could  you  find  such  generosity'?" 

"It  was  done  by  slave  owners  in  the  southern  states 
of  America."     I  proffered  the  information. 

"Well,  then  you  have  an  analogy.  What  some  of 
your  slave  owners  did,  the  serf  owners  here  in  Russia 
were  doing.  The  negro  and  the  peasant  alike  owe  their 
knowledge  of  handicraft  to  their  masters.  Of  course, 
there  was  their  own  innate  gift  for  making  things  with 
the  hands  that  all  people  of  the  soil  possess,  and  there 
was  their  mutual  endeavor  which  has  found  expression 


156     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

in  the  artel.  And  there  you  have  both  sides  of  the  story 
of  the  artel  and  kustarny" 

"The  government  is  encouraging  these  cottage  in- 
dustries, of  course." 

"Yes,  I  was  going  to  mention  that."  He  reached 
for  a  book  behind  his  desk  and  ran  his  finger  down  a 
column  of  figures.  "The  report  of  the  Department  of 
Rural  Economy  shows  that  there  are  twelve  technical 
schools  teaching  handicraft,  that  the  kustarny  stores 
and  workshops  were  subsidized  by  the  Government, 
the  budget  for  this  work  amounting  to  over  half  a  mil- 
lion roubles  annually."  He  glanced  up  from  the  book. 
"There  is,  in  addition,  the  assistance  rendered  by  the 
Zemstvos  or  local  governments.  They  often  act  as 
middlemen,  supplying  the  raw  materials  and  handling 
the  finished  product.  Here  you  can  see  on  the  map 
just  where  the  kustarny  are  located."  He  unfolded 
the  colored  map  and  read  us  rapidly  figures  and  facts. 

"The  Governments  of  Moscow,  Vladimir,  Tver, 
Kostroma,  Nijni  Novgorod  and  Jaroslav  are  where  the 
handicrafts  thrive  especially.  Though  the  products 
and  the  labor  are  widely  diversified,  the  output  falls 
into  five  groups:  wood,  metal,  other  minerals,  leather 
and  woven  goods.  Of  these  the  largest  and  most 
important  is  the  wood  industry.  One  district  manu- 
factures 2,000  sleighs  annually  in  addition  to  carts 
and  other  vehicles.  Seven  thousand  tarantasses 
come  from  Vladimir  alone  each  year.  Kaluga  with  its 
2,200  workmen  and  900  shops  turns  out  barrels. 
Eighty-seven  villages  of  the  Moscow  Government  make 
rude  peasant-painted  furniture.  One  hundred  and 
twenty  shops  in  the  same  district  are  devoted  to  toys, 
employing  2,000  peasants,  and  turning  out  each  year 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN         157 

a  supply  worth  $250,000.  In  the  Tver  Government 
6,000  peasants  make  nothing  but  pump  handles,  whilst 
another  2,000  are  employed  in  extracting  tar  from 
trees.  It  is  reckoned  that  fully  100,000  men  are  en- 
gaged in  making  cart  wheels  in  the  various  villages 
of  Great  Russia.  In  point  of  output,  the  wooden  spoon 
industry  is  the  largest.  These  painted  and  lacquered 
spoons  are  used  all  over  the  empire,  and  find  a  ready 
market  in  the  Far  East,  China  being  the  chief  customer, 
with  Persia  as  a  close  second.  Fully  100,000,000  are 
made  each  year,  most  of  them  coming  from  the  Vladi- 
mir and  Kursk  Governments.  To  make  a  spoon  often 
requires  the  labors  of  fifteen  different  artels — think  of 
it,  fifteen  artels — although  for  the  poorer  quality  one 
man  is  sufficient.  A  good  handicrafter  can  turn  out 
150  of  the  spoons  in  a  day.  The  bulk,  however,  goes 
through  at  least  three  separate  processes,  employing 
three  artels.  The  profits  for  a  worker  rarely  amount  to 
more  than  $20  a  year. 

"Bast  and  limewood  sandals  worn  by  the  peasantry 
generally  come  from  the  village  of  Simeonofka  and 
the  city  of  Nijni  Novgorod,  where  during  a  season  of 
five  months  a  rapid  worker  can  finish  400  pairs. 
Baskets  are  made  principally  in  the  district  of  Zweni- 
gorod,  and  mats  in  Kostroma.  Linen  is  woven  at 
Jaroslav,  and  in  most  villages  spinning-wheels  and 
distaffs  are  made.  Tver  is  the  main  book  country;  in 
one  town  fifty-five  per  cent  of  the  population  are  em- 
ployed. At  Tver  350  workmen  prepare  annually 
$40,000  worth  of  finished  leather. 

"There  you  see  what  staple  articles  are  made.  Those 
are  only  a  few."  He  spread  out  the  map  impressively. 
"Look  at  the  finer  arts.     Feasant  jewelry  is  made  in 


158     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

fifty  villages  on  the  Volga  in  the  Kostroma  Govern- 
ment. Some  of  it  is  valuable  indeed,  much  is  cheap 
and  tawdry.  A  secret  process  of  gilding  is  employed, 
a  process  learned  from  the  Tartars,  it  is  said.  The 
natives  guard  it  jealously.  In  the  same  manner  do  the 
makers  of  ikons  guard  their  secret  in  the  Government 
of  Vladimir,  which  furnishes  practically  all  the  ikons 
in  Russia.  A  special  process  of  mixing  and  grinding 
the  paints  to  produce  a  glossy  finish  has  been  discov- 
ered. The  natives  draw  and  paint  the  religious  figures 
after  patterns  handed  down  through  generations.  Few 
of  them  know  the  first  elements  of  drawing,  though 
their  work  lacks  nothing  in  artistic  effect.  As  in  the 
making  of  spoons,  the  manufacturing  of  ikons  employs 
several  artels. 

"Everywhere  in  the  bazaars  you  see  native  pottery. 
To  be  sure,  it  is  crud-e,  but  it  has  many  redeeming  ele- 
ments, mainly  its  beauty  of  line  and  its  durability. 
Poltava  and  Viatka  are  the  centers  for  the  industry; 
there  some  30,000  peasants  are  employed,  with  an  out- 
put valued  at  $150,000.  The  workers'  wages  range 
from  twenty-five  roubles  ($12.50)  to  $100  a  year. 
The  making  of  locks  is  practically  a  monopoly  of  the 
kustarny.  Pavlovo  is  the  center.  The  wages  rarely  go 
above  $2  a  week. 

"The  women  play  a  great  part  in  this  work.  Rus- 
sian women  of  all  classes  are  good  housewives.  They 
are  constantly  employed  in  sewing,  embroidering  and 
in  some  instances  weaving.  This  is  particularly  true 
of  the  peasant  housewives.  In  their  hands  the  weaving 
industry  has  become  a  business  of  first  importance. 
When  they  do  not  work  in  the  home,  they  meet  in 
the  community  workshop  or  svieteika.    The  best  linen 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN        159 

comes  from  Jaroslav,  Kostroma,  Moscow  and  Vladi- 
mir, where  fully  60,000  families  find  employment. 
The  wages  are  fifty  copecks — twenty-five  cents — a  day. 
The  peasant  women  of  Vladimir  make  a  specialty  of 
embroidering  aprons,  towels  and  table  linen.  At  one 
time  lacemaking  was  a  thriving  industry,  but  of  late 
it  has  fallen  into  decay.  The  making  of  shawls  and 
scarfs,  limited  to  the  Government  of  Orenburg,  has 
shown  a  decided  increase.  The  output  is  valued  at 
$75,000  annually. 

"But  you  can  see  by  these  figures  what  I  meant  in 
saying  that  the  kustarny  thrive.  They  average  an 
annual  total  turnover  of  $400,000,000.  Many  of 
these  peasant  workers  live  miles  from  the  railroad  and 
centers  of  civilization,  most  of  them  are  underpaid  and 
exploited  by  wily  middlemen,  and  still  the  work  is 
increasing  yearly.  And  it  will  increase  so  long  as  the 
peasant  in  Russia  maintains  his  singular  position  in  the 
social  scale.  Once  he  has  learned  the  ways  of  what 
we  term  urban  civilization,  much  of  his  artistic  and 
handicraft  ability  will  be  lost." 

We  rose  to  go.  We  had  long  overstayed  the  limits 
of  a  call,  even  a  call  paid  to  a  Russian  banker,  and 
we  now  hurried  to  the  offices  of  an  American  harvester 
company,  whose  representative  had  invited  us  to  lunch- 
eon. We  found  him  in  the  yard  talking  busily  to  a 
group  of  men.  They  were  all  respectably  dressed. 
Some  had  fur  coats  and  hats,  though  all  wore  high 
boots.  One  or  two  wore  white  collars  and  cravats. 
They  were  examining  a  harvester  of  the  latest  type 
with  the  name  of  an  Illinois  firm  painted  on  its  side, 
while  the  agent  was  showing  them  how  it  worked  and 
answering  their  questions. 


i6o     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

When  they  had  gone  he  came  in.  "Not  a  bad  morn- 
ing's work,"  he  said,  throwing  off  his  coat.  "They 
bought  two,  and  I'll  get  'em  to  take  another  if  they 
don't  look  out.    They've  plenty  of  money." 

"Looked  prosperous  enough,"  we  observed. 

"Why,  I  guess  that  artel  has  several  thousand  in  the 
bank." 

"Was  that  an  artel?'' 

"Surely,  that's  the  way  they  get  it."  He  smiled. 
"Cooperation,  my  boy,  cooperation.  . 


j> 


II 

The  cooperative  movement  in  Russia  indicates  one 
respect  in  which  that  country  leads  the  world.  So  un- 
precedented has  been  the  growth  in  the  past  twenty 
years  that  fully  one-third  of  the  population  of  Russia 
to-day  is  concerned  either  directly  or  indirectly  with 
the  movement.  In  this  Russia  is  even  further  in  ad- 
vance than  Germany,  which  means  that,  sociologically 
speaking,  she  is  a  very  great  distance  ahead  of  the 
United  States. 

The  proverbial  inch  of  statistics  will  here  go  farther 
than  a  mile  of  explanation.  The  various  cooperative 
societies  in  Russia  now  number  over  37,000,  of  which 
15,000  are  credit,  loan  and  savings  societies,  11,000 
consumers'  leagues,  10,000  agricultural  associations 
and  1,000  companies  of  artisans.  The  loan  societies 
have  over  9,000,000  members,  the  consumers'  leagues, 
1,500,000,  and  the  agricultural  associations,  1,000,000. 

Turn  to  the  United  States  and  seek  a  parallel.  Our 
only  agricultural  combinations  are  certain  groups  of 
fruit  growers  in  the  West  who  have  combined  for  the 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN        161 

marketing  of  their  crops. ^  There  is  sporadic  talk  among 
more  advanced  and  socialistic  farmers  about  forming 
cooperative  associations;  and  of  course  we  have  the 
grange,  which  in  many  districts  is  striving  to  be  some- 
thing more  than  a  social  organization  for  the  purpose 
of  saving  the  rural  populace  from  extinction  by  ennui. 
We  also  have  building  and  loan  associations,  and  in 
the  recent  establishment  of  rural  credit  banks  there 
is  a  suggestion  of  cooperation.  Further  than  that  we 
have  not  advanced.  Our  consumers'  leagues,  while 
doing  noble  work  in  the  betterment  of  factory  condi- 
tions, cannot  be  said  to  have  yet  become  a  vital  element 
in  the  nation  or  in  any  one  city. 

Now  conceive,  if  you  can.  New  York  City  meeting 
the  enforced  high  cost  of  living  (enforced  through 
manipulation)  by  giving  the  local  branch  of  the  Con- 
sumers' League  a  cash  credit  and  directing  it  to  buy 
butter,  eggs,  meat,  bread,  etc.,  for  the  populace.  And 
conceive  a  great  number  of  the  people  of  New  York 
belonging  to  the  Consumers'  League  and  making  their 
purchases  of  provisions  through  that  organization  and 
from  the  society's  stores  supported  by  such  purchases. 
It  reads  like  the  dream  of  a  rabid  socialist,  a  mad 
Utopia  I 

Yet  this  is  exactly  what  the  city  Government  of 
Petrograd  did  during  1916.  Speculators  had  pushed 
the  cost  of  living  out  of  the  reach  of  thousands  of 
the  people.  The  city  fathers  turned  to  the  Consumers' 
League,  gave  it  a  credit  of  $25,000  to  help  initiate  the 
operation,  and  made  it  responsible  for  furnishing  food- 
stuffs. .  .   .  Lunn,  the  socialist  mayor  of  Schenectady, 

^  Compare  this  with  but  one  item.  Of  the  butter  exported  annually 
from  Siberia — the  "West"  of  Russia — 70%  is  produced  by  cooperative 
creameries. 


i62     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

New  York,  tried  a  similar  movement  during  a  coal 
famine  in  his  administration — and  the  good  folks  of 
that  city  have  not  yet  ceased  being  scandalized  by  the 
memory  of  it  I 

The  Russian  artisan  and  the  Russian  farmer  may  be 
sadly  ignorant  of  modern  methods,  but  as  cooperative 
workers  they  bear  the  torch  for  the  rest  of  the  world. 
Go  into  any  walk  of  life  you  choose,  and  you  will  dis- 
cover cooperation.  The  old  starosta  of  the  Amur  Trakt 
was  right;  his  fellows  can  be  found  anywhere  from 
Vilna  to  Vladivostok.  Due  to  their  cooperation  Russia 
possesses  a  better  rural  credit  system  than  the  United 
States,  for  example. 

In  many  instances  our  Western  farmers  and  ranchers 
are  financed  by  Wall  Street  and  they  must  agree  to  the 
exorbitant  interest  demanded  by  the  local  banks  repre- 
senting New  York  institutions.  So  serious  has  the 
condition  grown  that,  when  Congress  recently  made 
an  investigation  of  the  number  and  state  of  tenant 
farmers  in  the  country,  it  was  deemed  unwise  to  print 
the  results ;  nor  will  investigators  find  those  figures  open 
to  public  inspection  at  Washington. 

Singularly  enough,  the  Russian  Government  deserves 
a  major  share  of  praise  for  the  success  of  the  credit  in- 
stitutions. "The  financial  help  given  by  our  Treas- 
ury," says  Prof.  Totomianz  of  Moscow  University,^ 
"to  the  Credit  cooperatives.  Loan  and  Savings  Associa- 
tions, the  Zemstvos^  Banks  and  Cooperative  Unions 
reached  on  July  15,  1915,  the  sum  of  321,500,000 
roubles  of  which  52  millions  are  loans  contributed  to 
the  capital  stock,  and  the  rest,  short-term  loans.  The 
war  had  not  interfered  with  the  assistance  which  is  ren- 

^The  Russian  Re'vieiv,  September,  1916. 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN        163 

dered  to  Credit  Societies  by  a  special  'Department 
of  Cooperation,'  so  to  speak,  that  is,  by  the  Board  of 
Small  Credit.  From  July,  1914,  to  April  5,  1915, 
the  number  of  credit  societies  increased  by  689.  Be- 
sides, the  Board  has  recently  permitted  the  local  com- 
mittees of  the  branches  of  the  State  Bank  to  give  credit 
to  all  types  of  cooperative  institutions. 

"But  while  rendering  a  tremendous  material  assist- 
ance to  Credit  Cooperation,  our  government  at  the  same 
time  does  not  encourage  the  growth  of  Statute-regu- 
lated Cooperative  Unions.  We  have  no  more  than 
31  Unions  of  Cooperative  organizations.  In  view  of 
the  fact  that  the  statutes  of  many  Unions  have  failed 
to  be  legally  approved,  and  because  of  the  absence 
of  a  harmonious  cooperative  legislation,  it  has  been 
noticed  that  in  the  second  half  of  the  year  1914  about 
100  new  unions  of  cooperatives  of  various  types  were 
established  on  the  basis  of  notarial  contracts.  These 
Contract  Unions  usually  combine  cooperative  institu- 
tions of  various  types,  but,  unfortunately,  they  cannot 
extend  to  a  great  number  of  cooperative  organizations. 

"Generally  speaking,  close  and  consorted  collabora- 
tion of  the  cooperative  institutions  of  all  types  is  a 
characteristic  trait  of  the  Russian  cooperative  move- 
ment, by  which  it  is  advantageously  distinguished  from 
cooperation  in  some  other  countries.  In  many  sections 
of  the  Empire,  Credit  Societies,  the  'spring  of  coopera- 
tion,' lend  material  assistance  to  consumers'  leagues, 
workmen's  associations,  agricultural  societies  and  com- 
panies. As  a  rule,  prohibition  of  credit  sales  is  stipu- 
lated as  a  condition.  Furthermore,  owing  to  the  as- 
sistance of  credit  cooperation,  companies  of  artisans 


i64     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

for  the  supply  of  munitions  have  recently  begun  to 
organize. 

*'In  addition  to  State  help  given  to  credit  coopera- 
tives and  the  aid  lent  by  the  latter  to  other  forms  of 
cooperation,  the  Zemstvos  also  come  to  the  assistance 
of  the  cooperative  movement.  This  is  done  mainly 
through  the  Zemstvos'  Banks  of  Small  Credit,  which 
are  a  peculiarity  of  Russia  in  the  domain  of  social  con- 
structive work.  Up  to  July  i,  1914,  215  of  these 
Zemstvos  credit  associations  lent  about  42,000,000 
roubles  to  credit  cooperatives  alone,  this  sum  being 
contributed  to  their  circulating  capital,  as  well  as  to 
their  capital  stock.  Many  of  these  Banks  are  now 
granting  credit  to  all  other  forms  of  cooperation. 
Sometimes  the  assistance  assumes  a  very  original  form. 
For  example,  the  Novgorod  Bank  of  Small  Credit  gives 
credit  to  eighty  Consumers'  Leagues  of  its  district  on 
security  of  their  goods,  and  places  orders  for  oats, 
sugar,  and  flour  with  the  Petrograd  Society  of  Whole- 
sale Operations,  that  is,  the  Union  of  Consumers' 
Leagues.  In  Siberia  the  city  administrations  of  Minu- 
sinsk and  Kansk  became  shareholders  in  the  local  Con- 
sumers' League.  The  Kansk  administration  took 
twenty  shares  and,  besides,  decided  to  give  over  the 
government  alimentary  loan  of  20,000  roubles  to  the 
Consumers'  League.  The  city  administration  of  Omsk 
has  put  free  premises  at  the  disposal  of  the  local  Con- 
sumers' League." 

Ill 

As  was  observed  before,  Russia  is  an  agricultural 
nation  and  in  considering  the  Russian  as  a  working 
man,  the  bulk  of  one's  attention  necessarily  is  claimed 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN         165 

by  the  rural  workers.  Agriculture  employs  74.6% 
of  the  workers;  industry,  9.67^;  commerce,  3.8%; 
railways  and  river  trafBc,  1.6%;  the  State,  1.4%;  and 
private  employment,  ^.6%.  In  addition  there  are  the 
unattached  bands  of  workers. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  serfdom  was  partly  brought 
into  existence  by  the  incurable  migratory  habit  of  the 
agricultural  laborers.  The  habit  persists  to  this  day. 
The  Russian  farmer  and  artisan  alike  refuse  to  stay 
put.  The  fact  that  an  appreciable  number  of  the  peo- 
ple constantly  go  about  from  place  to  place  either  in 
pilgrim  bands  or  working  companies  is  a  situation  Rus- 
sian economic  life  has  to  reckon  with.  Each  summer, 
to  quote  one  instance,  over  a  million  farmers  migrate 
to  the  wheat  fields  of  the  south.  Each  winter  hordes 
of  them  drift  into  the  cities.  Due  to  this  migratory 
habit,  the  efforts  of  the  Government  to  colonize  Siberia 
have  met  with  enormous  success.  Overcrowding  in 
some  districts  has  given  the  peasant  a  restless  foot,  lack 
of  work  accounts  for  some  of  the  unrest,  and  these  and 
the  lack  of  an  inclination  to  work  have  bred  the  hosts 
of  beggars  and  tramps  that  infest  the  countryside  and 
city. 

The  beggardom  of  Moscow,  Russia's  largest  indus- 
trial center,  is  a  whole  study  in  itself.  Factory  work- 
ers are  factory  workers  the  world  over — slaves  to  ma- 
chines. Farmers  may  differ — but  the  peasant  classes 
have  traits  in  common  the  world  over.  It  is  in  her 
beggars,  the  outcasts  of  her  workaday  life,  that  Russia 
stands  supreme. 

Come  with  me,  then,  to  the  Kremlin,  to  the  doss 
house,  to  the  Khirov  Rinok  where  you  can  see  the  real 
Russian  tramp  and  beggar  and  sans-coulettes. 


i66     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

IV 

The  beggars  are  leaving  the  Kremlin  for  the  night. 
From  the  towers  of  the  score-odd  churches,  the  boom 
and  hum  of  the  last  evening  bell  dies  away.  The  dusk 
becomes  heavy  with  silence.  A  sudden  sharp  command 
from  a  sentry.  The  word  is  passed  along.  A  beggar 
or  two  drifts  onto  the  broad  pavement  that  leads  down 
to  the  south  gate  of  the  holy  fortress.  A  handful  of 
them  creep  out  of  the  corners  where  they  have  been 
hiding  from  the  cruel  wind.  Still  another  band  shuf- 
fles out  of  the  enclosure  by  the  barracks.  The  pave- 
ment is  filled  with  a  crowd  of  jostling,  singing,  groan- 
ing, laughing  masses  of  filth  and  rags,  of  withered 
arms  and  blinded  eyes.  Most  of  them  barely  crawl 
along.  A  few,  however,  move  briskly  through  the  fine 
snow;  the  day  has  gone  well  with  them.  They  link 
arms. 

"Whither,  Ivan?" 

And  Ivan  grins  as  he  murmurs,  "Doss."  Which 
means  that  he  has  begged  money  enough  to  buy  a  sup- 
per of  vodka  and  black  bread  and  hash  at  a  "doss" 
house,  one  of  the  underground  restaurants  of  Moscow. 

There  are  50,000  beggars  in  Moscow,  and  the  beggar 
rank  and  file  by  no  means  constitutes  the  majority  of 
the  city's  submerged  tenth.  So  when  you  follow  the 
beggars  from  the  Kremlin  to  the  door  of  one  of  their 
"doss"  houses,  you  will  find  already  a  large  crowd 
ahea^.  The  ubiquitous  gendarme  makes  a  vain  attempt 
to  herd  the  men  and  women  into  line.  He  curses  and 
prods  them  with  his  fist.  Finally  the  crowd  straightens 
out.  Slowly  it  begins  to  move — a  serpent  gliding  into 
a  sewer.    Another  gendarme  scrutinizes  you  at  the  door. 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN        167 

You  are  shabbily  dressed,  so  he  says  nothing.  Down 
into  the  sewer  you  go. 

It  is  a  large  cellar  set  with  long  wooden  tables  and 
rows  of  backless  benches  stretching  the  entire  length 
of  the  room.  At  one  end  a  counter  where  you  buy 
your  bread,  tea,  raw  fish  or  beer — or  even  what  were 
clothes,  old  trousers  and  shirts,  if  you  are  rich  enough. 
Soup  is  served  in  bowls  at  a  copeck  a  bowl.  An  enor- 
mous chunk  of  black  bread  the  size  of  our  loaf  costs 
only  three  copecks.  "Bread"  is  a  misnomer,  for  there 
is  little  enough  flour  in  it.  Your  supper  purchased,  you 
juggle  it  to  the  table,  where  you  scramble  for  a  place 
among  the  shoving  mob. 

The  room  is  dark.  Only  two  little  lights  hung  on 
opposite  walls  struggle  feebly  to  dispel  the  darkness. 
The  floor  is  black  and  slippery  from  the  melted  snow 
and  boot  slime  of  a  thousand  nights  and  days.  There 
is  much  chatter  and  chaffing.  Someone  steals  a  piece 
of  his  neighbor's  bread  and  essays  to  fight,  but  as  a 
fight  means  the  police,  and  the  "doss"  is  warm,  the 
others  order  a  truce  so  that  everyone  can  stay  in  until 
the  final  closing  hour.    The  beggar  is  a  cunning  fellow. 

In  these  dark,  miasmic  holes  are  fed  hundreds  of  the 
poor  each  night.  Some  sleep  there,  but  the  majority 
drift  out  when  the  hour  grows  late.  For  there  is  more 
to  the  Russian  beggar's  life  than  panhandling,  eating 
and  sleeping;  he  is  an  integral  part  of  the  underground 
world,  and  each  night  he  goes  to  the  place  where  for- 
gather the  pickpockets,  criminals,  porters,  cab-drivers 
and  all  the  other  people  of  the  abyss. 

Until  you  have  crossed  the  frontiers  of  Russia  you 
do  not  know  what  beggars  are.  Beside  them  the  dere- 
licts of  a  Bowery  bread-line   or  the  tatterdemalion 


i68     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

vagrants  of  the  Thames  Embankment  are  Beau  Brum- 
mels  in  dress,  Bostonians  in  culture.  The  Russian  beg- 
gar— and  you  see  him  at  his  best  in  Russia's  most  Rus- 
sian city,  Moscow — is  the  Super-Beggar.  In  him  con- 
verge all  the  ages  of  mendicancy;  he  wears  the  rags 
of  a  caveman,  has  the  piety  of  a  medieval  pilgrim  and 
the  cunning  of  a  modern  panhandler.  He  is  the  product 
of  his  own  laziness  and  disease,  and  of  his  fellow-coun- 
trymen's belief  in  the  efficacy  of  works  of  supereroga- 
tion— to  pass  a  beggar  unheeded  in  Holy  Russia  is  to 
endanger  one's  soul.  Besides,  according  to  popular 
belief,  the  excesses  of  an  all-night  racket  during  which 
you  have  dropped  hundreds  of  roubles  into  the  purse 
of  a  restaurateur  can  readily  be  expiated  by  dropping 
a  ten-copeck  piece  into  the  palm  of  a  beggar  the  next 
day. 

If  you  fail  to  contribute,  he  will  pour  maledictions 
on  your  head  as  readily  as  blessings.  The  Russians 
know  this,  and  they  give  him  scant  opportunity  to  abuse 
them.  The  shopkeeper  does  not  wave  him  out  of  his 
store,  he  merely  opens  the  cash  drawer  and  hands  the 
beggar  his  dole.  The  beggar  crosses  himself  before  the 
ikon — every  shop,  theater  and  office  in  Russia  has  an 
ikon — and  goes  out.  It  is  a  business  transaction  pure 
and  simple.  Sometimes  he  may  have  a  charity  box 
and  a  testimonial  to  the  effect  that  he  is  a  good  man, 
or  that  this  and  that  calamity  have  befallen  him;  but 
in  the  majority  of  cases  he  has  nothing  more  than  his 
rags  and  infirmities  as  guarantees  to  assure  you  he  is 
worthy  of  charity. 

The  Mecca  of  the  Russian  beggar  is  the  Kremlin  at 
Moscow.  Saunter  past  the  little  chapel  of  Our  Lady 
of  Iberia,  which  stands  at  the  gate  of  the  plaza — a 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN        169 

white  and  gold  chapel  with  a  stream  of  the  devout 
ever  coming  and  going.  On  its  steps  sit  and  lounge  a 
motley  of  beggars,  the  first  of  the  religious  crew.  Once 
within  the  gate,  the  "Red  Square"  opens  out.  Ahead, 
St.  Basil's,  a  gigantic  sea-anemone  of  architecture,  an 
Oriental  jumble  of  vari-colored  minarets  and  bulbous, 
blue  domes  topped  by  gilded,  three-armed  crosses.  On 
the  one  hand,  the  shops  of  the  famous  Moscow  arcade ; 
on  the  other,  the  turreted  walls  of  the  Kremlin  itself. 

Over  its  crumbling  ramparts  tower  the  shafts  and 
spires  of  the  churches.  At  the  "Redeemer's  Gate"  the 
wall  is  broken,  showing  a  glimpse  of  the  glittering 
buildings  within.  If  you  are  a  Russian  you  will  raise 
your  hat,  as  you  pass  through,  to  the  ikon  enshrined 
in  the  tower  above;  if  you  are  a  foreigner  and  do  not, 
a  beggar  lout  may  have  knocked  it  off  before  you 
emerge  from  the  tunnel.  This  is  one  of  the  preroga- 
tives of  the  Kremlin  beggar,  though  he  may  not  al- 
ways avail  himself  of  it.  At  all  events,  be  your  hat  off 
or  on,  he  will  approach  with  his  hand  extended. 

Once  within  the  Kremlin  walls,  your  gaze  fixes  on 
splashes  of  reds  and  whites,  greens  and  golds,  blues  and 
yellows.  Even  the  barracks  are  white,  and  the  bar- 
racks are  a  necessary  adjunct,  as  the  Kremlin  is  a 
fortress.  Every  man  in  its  garrison  wears  the  Cross 
of  St.  George  for  valor.  When  the  sentry  turns  away 
at  the  end  of  his  beat,  a  beggar  rushes  out  at  you  from 
the  shadow  of  the  wall. 

Scattered  here  and  there  are  monuments  marking 
events  in  the  bloody  history  of  Russia.  There  is  the 
famous  Chinese  cannon:  a  huge  piece  of  ancient  ord- 
nance, with  bronze  serpents  that  wriggle  and  twist 
along  the  barrel.    A  beggar  woman  squats  to  the  lee 


170     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

of  it.  Nearby  is  the  largest  bell  in  the  world,  so  the 
Russians  claim.  Cracked  and  long  since  voiceless,  it 
now  rests  on  a  masonry  foundation.  As  you  approach 
a  shoal  of  hands  clutch  at  you — dirty  hands,  palsied 
hands,  hands  minus  many  fingers,  amorphous  claws, 
hands  of  little  children,  hands  of  old  men,  hands  of 
decrepit  women;  some  are  not  hands  at  all,  only  shriv- 
eled stumps. 

Like  their  brothers  in  other  lands,  the  Russian  clerics 
know  the  benefits  and  evils  of  the  beggar.  They  openly 
encourage  him  to  hang  around  church  doors  as  an  ever- 
present  appeal  for  charity,  that  the  faithful  may  never 
lack  the  opportunity  to  carry  out  the  scriptural  injunc- 
tion about  the  poor.  At  the  same  time,  however,  they 
are  frank  in  warning  visitors  against  the  beggar's  pil- 
fering habits.  At  the  entrance  of  St.  Basil's  is  a  large 
sign :    "Beware  of  Pickpockets !" 

As  you  spell  out  the  words,  the  beggars  leer  at  you. 
Inside  the  grotto  chapel  can  always  be  found  a  congre- 
gation of  men,  old  women,  school  girls  in  their  "gym- 
nasium" uniforms,  soldiers,  and  more  beggars.  The 
Kremlin  beggar,  you  see,  believes  that  his  power  as  such 
is  enhanced  if  every  now  and  again  he  slips  into  the 
chapel.  So  in  he  shuffles,  prostrates  himself,  crosses 
himself,  and  looks  the  crowd  over.  If  he  sees  that  most 
of  the  worshipers  have  read  the  sign  and  are  keeping 
their  hands  near  their  wallets,  he  will  dive  out  into  the 
sunlight  once  more;  but  should  the  congregation  seem 
engrossed  in  their  devotions  he  will  stay  awhile,  mov- 
ing now  and  again  from  spot  to  spot  in  the  little, 
crowded  room,  always  prostating  himself,  crossing 
himself,  muttering  prayers,  and  plying  his  light-fin- 
gered trade. 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN        171 

Possibly  the  only  place  in  the  entire  Kremlin  where 
you  can  be  free  of  the  beggar  is  a  spot  on  the  ramparts 
of  the  south  wall.  The  view  from  there  is  one  of  the 
boasts  of  Moscow.  Oil  the  palm  of  the  guard  and 
access  to  the  steps  is  easy.  Far  above  the  city  the 
Kremlin  turrets  rear  their  heads.  Below  is  the  town, 
its  plains  of  flat  roof-tops  broken  here  and  there  where 
a  swelling  dome  or  a  golden  minaret  crops  up  like  a 
tree  on  a  wind-swept  steppe.  The  Moscova  winds  a 
serpentine  course  through  the  city.  A  few  barges, 
drawn  up  to  a  wharf  for  the  winter,  look  like  mere 
skiffs.  Behind  on  the  ramparts  paces  a  sentry.  Above 
and  around  the  towers  of  the  Kremlin  churches  the 
crows  circle  and  dip.  Suddenly  into  the  hush,  the 
boom  of  a  bell.  Other  bells  of  the  Kremlin  take  it 
up.  Thunder  and  crash,  tinkle  and  rattle,  they  ring 
out  the  Angelus.  Their  sound  reaches  the  city.  The 
bells  of  Moscow's  two  hundred  and  thirty-two  churches 
answer.  For  five  minutes  the  towers  rock.  The  city 
is  one  great  cacophony.  Then  peace  settles  down  once 
more.  The  sentry  approaches:  "You  must  leave;  the 
gates  are  about  to  close." 

For  five  minutes  you  have  missed  the  haunting  whine 
of  the  beggars.  Once  more  on  the  pavement  below, 
however,  you  are  in  their  midst  as  they  wend  their  way 
to  the  city  for  the  night,  out  to  the  "doss"  houses  and 
the  Khirov  Rinok. 

In  beggardom  the  Khirov  Rinok,  or  the  lodging- 
house  of  the  poor,  is  dubbed  the  "Flea  Market,"  for 
reasons  which  need  no  explanation.  In  summer  the 
beggars  sleep  out  of  doors,  crawling  under  the  shelter 
of  buildings,  sleeping  under  the  stalls  in  the  fish  market, 
or  on  the  benches  along  the  bank  of  the  Moscova.    In 


172     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

the  winter  when  even  the  most  sheltered  corner  is  swept 
by  a  pitiless  blast,  sleeping  out  of  doors  spells  death. 
So  the  beggars,  having  eaten  at  a  "doss"  house,  shuffle 
over  to  the  "Flea  Market,"  where  clot  the  pickpockets, 
the  criminals  and  the  birds  of  passage. 

It  is  a  drab  quadrangle.  A  collection  of  hovels. 
The  windows  are  grimy.  Broken  panes  are  stuffed 
with  bunches  of  straw  and  old  rags.  Under  an  archway 
leading  into  the  court  are  gathered  a  group  of  wretches 
who  eye  you  dully.  Ranged  along  the  curb,  a  line  of 
rickety  cabs  without  drivers  or  hitching-posts — none 
are  needed ! 

Pick  your  way  along  the  broken  plank  walk.  The 
first  door  contrasts  sharply  with  the  other  corners  of 
the  place.  Through  the  window  can  be  caught  a 
glimpse  of  a  white  interior,  a  white  bed,  a  white-robed 
nurse — the  hospital.  Russia  is  given  to  paradoxes.  In 
the  worst  of  hovels  you  will  always  find  an  ikon  corner 
clean  and  orderly.  In  the  midst  of  the  poverty  and 
filth  of  a  city  you  will  discover  a  hospital.  When  emi- 
grants are  sent  out  to  Siberia,  the  cars  are  mere  cattle 
pens  on  wheels.  But  the  train  invariably  carries  a  hos- 
pital coach,  with  a  nurse  and  doctor  in  attendance. 
The  hospital  at  the  "Flea  Market"  is  a  necessary  ad- 
junct. Cholera,  typhus  and  typhoid  breed  here,  and 
scarcely  a  day  passes  without  a  death.  With  charac- 
teristic lack  of  logic,  the  authorities  do  not  dream  of 
cleaning  out  the  hole  and  preventing  the  spread  of  dis- 
ease; instead,  they  erect  a  hospital  into  which  poor 
wretches  may  crawl  and  die. 

Across  the  quadrangle  is  the  main  building.  As  you 
fling  back  the  door,  you  stumble  over  the  bodies  of 
snoring  men.    Were  they  not  snoring  you  would  have 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN        173 

taken  them  for  bundles  of  rags.  A  murk  of  vile  air 
strikes  your  nostrils.  Darkness  is  thick  within.  On 
two  sides  of  the  large  room  ranges  a  row  of  broad 
benches,  planks  set  on  trestles  a  yard  above  the  floor. 
On  them,  closely  packed  as  sardines  in  a  box,  lie  sleep- 
ing men  and  women.  Those  who  cannot  sleep  sit  in 
little  groups  on  the  edge  of  the  benches  and  talk  in 
guttural  undertones.  A  tiny  candle,  flickering  in  a 
sconce  at  each  end  of  the  room,  scarcely  illuminates 
the  faces  enough  for  recognition. 

One  of  the  men  on  the  bench  idly  kicks  his  feet.  A 
grunt.  Beneath  his  feet  lies  a  man  curled  up  on  the 
slime  of  the  floor.  Beside  him  are  shadows  of  other 
forms.  Lift  one  of  the  planks,  and  below  is  another 
layer.  There  they  lie,  without  bedding  save  a  handful 
of  straw,  without  covering  save  their  rags,  without  air 
save  such  as  sifts  down  to  them  when  the  door  opens. 
"They've  had  hard  luck,"  the  man  who  kicks  his  feet 
volunteers.  "They  can't  afford  to  sleep  up  here  with 
us.  This  top  row  costs  six  copecks.  The  bottom  only 
costs  five." 

All  ages  of  men  and  women  are  here,  all  sizes,  all 
nationalities  that  recognize  the  Russian  flag,  all  re- 
ligions, all  degrees  of  poverty  and  degeneration  and 
disease.  The  cab  drivers  and  market  porters,  who  make 
the  staggering  sum  of  $4  a  month,  are  the  aristocrats 
of  the  crowd.  Not  only  an  aristocracy  of  wealth,  but 
an  aristocracy  of  power,  for  they  are  in  league  with 
the  criminals.  They  "fix  it  up"  with  the  thugs  to  take 
an  unsuspecting  charge  to  a  dark  hole  where  the  thief 
can  do  his  work.  And  the  Russian  thug,  like  his  beg- 
gar brother,  is  a  Super-Thug.  He  is  a  simple  fellow 
and  he  likes  direct  means.    A  noose  on  a  stick  he  throws 


174     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

over  the  head  of  the  passer-by.  A  jerk — and  stunned, 
or  with  neck  broken,  the  wayfarer  tumbles  to  the  pave- 
ment and  his  pockets  are  rifled.  In  more  favored  climes 
a  thief  will  not  kill  you  if  you  give  him  your  watch; 
in  Russia  he  kills  you  first  and  then  looks  to  see  if 
you  have  a  watch.  So  here  in  the  "Flea  Market"  the 
cab  drivers  and  the  thugs  meet  to  arrange  their  appoint- 
ments and  divide  the  swag. 

Passing  among  the  groups  that  sit  yawning  on  the 
edge  of  the  benches  comes  a  porter.  From  beneath  his 
rough,  padded  coat  he  produces  a  bunch  of  radishes, 
or  a  chunk  of  black  bread,  and  now  and  again  a  bottle 
of  vodka.  He  has  stolen  them  from  a  booth  and  brings 
them  to  the  lodging-house  of  the  poor  to  sell.  A  clever 
porter  can  make  as  much  as  fifty  copecks  a  night  from 
his  stealings.  Besides  the  edibles,  he  often  brings  in 
old  scraps  of  things  that  the  booth  keepers  have  thrown 
away  as  useless.  Here  is  a  lout  with  a  handful  of 
disks  of  tarnished  tin.  The  moujik  mirror  is  tin,  but 
when  it  rusts  the  shopkeeper  is  forced  to  throw  it  on 
the  ash  heap.  Then  the  porter  finds  it,  and  sells  it 
in  the  beggar's  lodging-house  for  a  dish  I 

In  a  corner  of  the  room  an  old  man  tends  a  pot  of 
hash  that  steams  over  a  charcoal  stove.  For  a  copeck 
you  can  buy  a  dab  of  this  hash  served  on  a  newspaper, 
or,  if  you  are  rich  enough  to  buy  one  of  the  tarnished 
mirrors  from  the  porter,  on  your  improvised  plate. 

All  night  long  these  bargainings  go  on.  Men  sell 
and  swap  their  clothes,  their  little  treasures,  their  food. 
The  junk  from  half  a  hundred  ash  piles  is  pawed  over 
and  bartered  in  this  lodging-house. 

Few  indeed  of  the  lodgers  have  anything  in  the  shape 
of  a  newspaper  or  a  book.     Few  indeed  are  those 


THE  RUSSIAN  AS  A  WORKING  MAN        175 

who  can  read ;  one  person  in  five  is  the  ratio  in  Russia. 
Neither  can  they  write.  The  men  of  any  education 
who  are  down  and  out  and  who  come  to  these  lodgings 
are  so  few  and  far  between  as  to  be  indistinguishable 
from  the  mass. 

Though  the  police  watch  the  place  with  untiring 
scrutiny,  they  rarely  come  inside  except  to  look  for 
some  desperate  character,  or  for  a  thug  who  has  in- 
flicted violence  on  one  of  them  and  who  is  known  to 
be  an  habitue  of  the  "Flea  Market."  With  little  cere- 
mony they  rush  into  the  hall,  turn  over  the  slumbering 
forms  with  their  boot  toes,  cross-question,  threaten,  and 
then  pass  on  to  the  next  row  of  sleepers.  Spies  have 
been  known  to  frequent  the  lodging-house  of  the  poor, 
though  only  as  a  last  resort. 

The  Russian  Jew  is  totally  absent,  for  with  charac- 
teristic charity  the  Jew  takes  care  of  his  own  poor. 
Few  of  the  men  in  this  place  can  be  said  to  have 
"fallen."  They  have  never  been  up — witless  fellows, 
mere  riffraff  that  drift  in  here  for  the  night  or  part  of 
the  night. 

There  are  many  peasants  on  the  sleeping-benches. 
They  have  left  their  farms  to  find  work  in  the  city 
and,  finding  only  poverty  instead,  have  dropped  to 
this  level.  Many  of  them,  unaccustomed  to  the  city 
life,  fall  sick — and  the  little  hospital  at  the  corner  is 
kept  busy. 

Thief,  thug  and  cab  driver,  porter  and  beggar,  peas- 
ant and  spy  rest  side  by  side  on  the  sleeping-benches 
and  on  the  floor.  Over  them  swarm  vermin.  The  air 
they  breathe  is  thick  with  bad  tobacco  smoke,  the  reek- 
ing odor  of  wet  clothes  and  boots  and  the  accumulated 
filth  of  months.  .  .  . 


176     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

On  the  wall  above  the  door  hangs  a  little  red  light 
that  throws  a  faint  glow  over  what  seems  to  be  a  dab 
of  tarnished  brass  and  smoke-blackened  colors.  Step 
closer  and  you  see  it  is  an  ikon  of  the  Christ,  with  His 
hand  raised,  blessing  the  miasmic  mob  of  His  children. 


CHAPTER  IX 

DEFINING  DOSTOEVSKY   AND   SOME  OTHERS 


SHE  was  a  lady,  a  regular  literary  lady,  and  she 
spoke  with  the  air  of  one  who  does  not  judge 
books  without  first  reading  them. 

"But  this  Dostoevsky — he  leaves  me  feeling  like  a 
jellied  mass  of  gloom.  I  find  nothing  interesting  in 
him  and  much  that  is  repellent.  Why  do  the  literati 
rage  so  furiously  about  him^  Gloom,  gloom  and  more 
gloom !    His  novels  are  without  form  and  void  I" 

All  of  which,  frankly,  expresses  the  feeling  many 
average  readers  have  about  Dostoevsky,  the  greatest 
writer  Russia  has  produced.  He  is  either  uninterest- 
ing or  gloomy  or  both. 

The  former  objection  may  have  sound  basis. 
Dostoevsky  seems  never  to  have  been  convinced  of 
the  necessity  for  following  the  contemporary  conven- 
tional form  in  novel  construction.  He  cannot  be  said 
to  have  copied  the  style  of  any  one  master.  A  man 
singularly  devoid  of  the  influence  of  any  printed  word, 
save  that  of  the  Gospels,  his  style  reflects  but  one  thing 
— ^his  own  nervous,  visionary  temperament.  Moreover, 
he  came  before  the  day  when  Russian  literature  was  to 
depend  for  its  effectiveness  and  individuality  upon  un- 
usual form,  upon  a  succession  of  brilliant  episodes, 

177 


178     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

anecdotes  and  disjointed  phrases  set  between  rows  of 
asterisks  and  ranks  of  dots.  Dostoevsky  was  not  a 
jeweler  turning  out  unusual  types  of  filigreed  punctua- 
tion that  one  can  pick  up  and  examine  in  the  hand  as 
he  would  a  brooch  or  a  ring;  rather,  Dostoevsky  was  a 
weaver  of  great  tapestries,  a  painfully  conscientious 
craftsman.  One  must  view  his  novels  en  masse^  must 
"stand  off"  to  appreciate  the  fullness  and  depth  of  their 
literary  chiaroscuro. 

To  call  him  gloomy  is  a  misnomer.  One  must  em- 
ploy other  standards  of  judgment  than  those  created 
by  Dostoevsky's  own  peculiar  native  literature.  Com- 
pared with  contemporary  standards  in  America,  he  is 
gloomy ;  viewed  as  a  product  of  Russian  life,  he  is  not. 
It  were  wiser  first  to  study  the  Russ  soul.  After  that 
some  semblance  of  definitive  light  and  shade  will 
emerge  from  the  apparent  murk  of  realism. 

In  addition,  such  study  of  the  Russ  soul  will  throw 
into  striking  contrast  other  Russian  authors  who  are 
generally  regarded  true  sons  of  the  race.  It  will  show 
Turgenev  to  have  had  a  European  soul  under  his  Slav 
exterior;  to  have  been  a  remarkable  painter  of  word 
landscapes  who  wrote  of  an  age  long  since  dead 
albeit  he  thought  it  still  alive;  and  these  things  Tur- 
genev's  life  and  work  prove.  It  will  show  Tolstoy  a 
mingling  of  East  and  West,  a  veritable  battleground 
on  which  they  fought  for  dominion ;  this  also  is  shown 
in  Tolstoy's  life  and  works.  Of  the  three,  Dostoevsky 
most  closely  approaches  an  epitome  of  the  Russ  soul, 
which  is  the  genius  of  the  masses. 

Again,  we  are  apt  to  judge  Russian  literature  in 
terms  of  the  Continental  influences  which  were  brought 
to  bear  upon  it  during  the  past  two  hundred  years. 


DEFINING  DOSTOEVSKY  AND  OTHERS     179 

There  was  the  Classical  School,  the  Romantic,  the 
Natural — merely  Slav  reflections  of  what  was  being 
written  in  Europe  at  the  time.  When  Dostoevsky 
arrived  at  notice  he  baffled  his  European  critics  because 
he  did  not  altogether  fit  into  any  of  the  categories  the 
European  schools  had  produced.  A  boyish  interest  in 
Balzac,  Goethe,  Schiller,  Byron  and  Racine  passed 
away  with  adolescence.  Epitomizing  Russia,  he  stood 
alone.  Hailed  as  great,  he  still  was  not  wholly  under- 
stood, for  the  Russian  soul  at  the  time  was  generally 
misinterpreted  and,  until  Dostoevsky  portrayed  it  in 
his  novels,  was  but  slightly  known  even  to  the  Russ 
himself. 

To  reduce  to  a  few  defining  words  the  spiritual  char- 
acteristics of  a  people  so  paradoxical  as  the  Slav  is 
indeed  a  difficult  task.  I  have  attempted  it  elsewhere 
in  the  course  of  these  pages.  There  are  many  cross  pur- 
poses and  spiritual  "sports"  breaking  here  and  there 
that  defy  tracing.  It  can  be  reduced,  however,  to  this 
basis;  it  has  the  rugged  faith  of  old  age  and  the  re- 
bellious ardor  of  youth.  These  two  elements,  found 
in  Dostoevsky's  life  are,  in  turn,  reflected  in  his  works. 

Few  men  have  felt  more  acutely  than  Dostoevsky 
the  high  cost  of  writing.  Few  men  paid  for  their  writ- 
ings so  high  a  price  in  living  and  few  turned  to  such 
good  and  direct  account  their  investments  in  actual  ex- 
perience. The  man  who  projects  himself  into  the 
moods  of  a  character  may  produce  a  faithful  portrait, 
but  his  work  will  lack  the  ultimate  depth  and  finesse 
of  reality.  He  who  has  been  born  and  lived  with  these 
moods  stands  better  equipped  to  portray  them  in  their 
just  proportions.  The  one  sketches  a  picture;  the  other 
keeps  a  diary. 


i8o     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

Therein  lies  a  fundamental  definition  of  Dostoev* 
sky's  works;  his  novels  are  diaries.  Poor  Folk,  the  first 
novel,  is  a  diary  of  the  surroundings  of  his  early  life, 
for,  although  of  the  hereditary  nobility,  he  was  born 
in  a  workhouse  and  his  family  of  nine  lived  in  two 
rooms  for  the  first  ten  years  of  his  life,  with  poor 
folk  such  as  Makar  Djevuschkin  about  on  all  sides. 
Insult  and  Injury  is  equally  a  diary  of  the  Siberian  ex- 
periences. Of  the  other  novels,  no  two  works  could 
be  more  striking  examples  of  empirical  authorship  than 
The  Gat7ibler  and  The  Brothers  Karamazov,  represent- 
ing, as  they  do  respectively,  Dostoevsky's  gambling  in 
middle  life  at  European  spas  and  his  struggle  for  the 
ideal  man. 

In  a  measure,  this  writing  from  personal  experience 
may  seem  the  easiest  possible  metier.  Certainly  it  is 
the  one  chosen  by  the  wise  novice,  for  to  write  about 
the  things  one  knows  intimately  and  has  experienced 
is  the  fundamental  canon  in  writing.  But  there  are 
experiences  and  experiences,  knowledge  and  knowledge. 
There  are  the  physical  adventures — the  wild  encoun- 
ters, the  quick  turns  of  luck,  the  intensifying  culmina- 
tion of  anecdotes  which,  set  down  with  color  and  sus- 
pense, make  capital  reading  for  certain  moods  and  states 
of  mind.  There  are  also  spiritual  adventures,  and  to  re- 
count these  requires  a  pen  more  delicately  adjusted 
and  an  eye  more  keen. 

Dostoevsky  would  have  been  a  spiritual  adventurist 
had  he  never  left  his  dooryard,  had  he  never  been  con- 
demned to  death,  exiled  to  Siberia,  staggered  under 
debt  and  physical  torture  all  his  life.  From  these 
physical  actualities  he  extracted  their  spiritual  realities. 
In  portraying  them  he  was  paramount,  which  made  him 


DEFINING  DOSTOEVSKY  AND  OTHERS     181 

in  his  writings  preeminently  a  Russ.  These  two  are 
contained  in  each  other;  that  is,  however  deeply  the 
physical  aspects  of  life  may  move  him,  the  Russ  is 
stirred  to  greater  depths  by  their  spiritual  reactions. 
It  is,  indeed,  impossible  to  consider  the  Russian  soul 
apart  from  spiritual  metabolism,  apart  from  a  clash 
between  the  rebellious  ardor  of  youth  and  the  sturdy 
faith  of  old  age. 

Sturdy  faith  is  attained  not  alone  by  having  it 
moulded  into  a  philosophy  of  life  in  youth,  or  by  ac- 
cepting it  as  a  matter  of  course,  as  it  may  be  in  the 
case  of  illiterates,  but  by  having  it  put  to  the  test  in 
life,  by  having  battled  for  its  existence  in  one's  philoso- 
phy. The  predominance  of  Orthodox  dogma  in  the 
Russian's  religion  is,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  due  to 
early  training  and  to  acceptance,  since  fully  60% 
of  the  people  are  illiterate.  But  in  many  instances 
it  is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  has  proven  invaluable  to 
men's  lives.  Dostoevsky  was  one  of  these  cases.  The 
story  is  written  in  his  life.  He  discovers  the  Bible, 
for  instance,  not  in  a  period  of  adolescent  religiosity, 
but  in  the  confinement  of  Peter  and  Paul  Fortress. 
Writing  to  his  brother  Michael  from  his  cell,  he  asks 
for  some  books:  "But  best  of  all  would  be  a  Bible 
(both  Testaments).  I  need  one."  He  was  then  aged 
twenty-seven.  Five  years  later  from  Omsk,  after  his 
term  of  exile,  he  writes  his  creed :  "Because  I  myself 
have  learned  it  and  gone  through  it,  I  want  to  say  to 
you  that  in  such  moments  (i.  e.,  times  of  suffering) 
one  does,  'like  dry  grass,'  thirst  after  faith,  and  that  one 
finds  it  in  the  end  solely  and  simply  because  one  sees 
the  truth  more  clearly  when  one  is  unhappy.  I  want 
to  say  to  you  about  myself,  that  I  am  a  child  of  this 


i82     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

age,  a  child  of  unfaith  and  skepticism,  and  probably 
(indeed,  I  know  it)  shall  remain  so  to  the  end  of 
my  life.  How  dreadfully  has  it  tormented  me  (and 
torments  me  now) — this  longing  for  faith,  which  is 
all  the  stronger  for  the  proofs  I  have  against  it.  And 
yet  God  gives  me  sometimes  moments  of  perfect  peace ; 
in  such  moments  I  have  formulated  my  creed,  wherein 
all  is  clear  and  holy  to  me.  This  creed  is  extremely 
simple;  here  it  is:  I  believe  that  there  is  nothing  love- 
lier, deeper,  more  sympathetic,  more  rational,  more 
manly  and  more  perfect  than  the  Saviour.  I  say  to 
myself  with  jealous  love  that  not  only  is  there  no 
one  else  like  Him,  but  that  there  could  be  no  one  else. 
I  would  even  say  more:  If  any  one  could  prove  to 
me  that  Christ  is  outside  the  truth,  and  if  truth  really 
did  exclude  Christ,  I  should  prefer  to  stay  with  Christ 
and  not  with  truth." 

At  fifty-six,  despite  the  prophecy  above,  he  writes 
to  a  mother  who  has  sought  his  counsel :  "Your  child 
is  now  eight  years  old;  make  him  acquainted  with 
the  Gospel,  teach  him  to  believe  in  God,  and  that  in 
the  most  orthodox  fashion.  This  is  a  sine  qua  non; 
otherwise  you  can't  make  a  fine  human  being  out  of 
your  child,  but  at  best  a  sufferer,  and  at  worst  a  care- 
less, lethargic  'success,'  which  is  a  still  more  deplorable 
fate.  You  will  never  find  anything  better  than  the 
Savior  anywhere,  believe  me." 

Evidently  Dostoevsky's  faith  did  not  come  easily. 
He  had  to  battle  for  it.  Once  established,  it  burned 
with  a  steady  flame.  It  was  a  live  thing,  an  intense, 
intimate,  acute  reality,  placing  its  mark  upon  every 
page  of  his  work. 

And  therein  lies  the  difference  between  the  school 


DEFINING  DOSTOEVSKY  AND  OTHERS     183 

of  realism  of  which  Dostoevsky  is  the  unquestioned 
leader,  and  every  other  school.  For  there  is  a  realism 
of  the  flesh  and  a  realism  of  the  spirit,  and  the  greater 
realities  are  spiritual  realities.  That  is  why  the  realism 
of  Dostoevsky  is  so  much  more  vital  than  the  realism — 
say  of  our  American  Dreiser.  Raskolnikov,  hero  of 
Crime  and  PunisJunent^  hounded  down  to  the  relief 
of  confession  by  the  growing  realization  of  his  sin,  is 
a  more  important  study  of  man  than  Eugene  Whitla, 
hero  of  The  Genius,  who  is  hounded  into  a  sickly  de- 
cency by  his  inability  to  succeed  with  the  opposite 
course.  One  man  is  a  conqueror,  the  other  a  "careless, 
lethargic  'success,'  "  The  one  is  a  study  in  spiritual 
realism,  the  other  a  study  in  fleshly  realism. 

It  is  this  element  of  spiritual  realism  that  the  lady 
who  was  perfectly  literary,  and  many  others,  mistake 
for  gloom.  True,  there  are  the  dark  realities  of  filth, 
poverty,  lust,  suicide,  hunger,  but  they  are  the  fight- 
ing elements  of  the  spiritual  battle,  the  brilliant  con- 
test of  spiritual  realities  against  the  sham  realities  of 
the  flesh.  One  can  see  the  struggle,  just  as  through 
the  gray-massed  storm  clouds  he  sees  the  brilliant  flash 
and  glow  of  lightning. 

Dostoevsky's  characters  are  studies  in  spiritual 
metabolism.  They  are  Russian.  They  are  also  in- 
tensely human.  To  dismiss  them  as  merely  patients 
from  a  psychopathic  ward  is  to  disregard  the  presence 
of  the  spiritual  struggle  in  man. 

Consider  his  characters  one  by  one  through  all  the 
twenty-one  works,  and  the  rule  holds.  They  are  strong 
or  weak  literary  representations  of  men  and  women 
just  in  that  proportion  in  which  that  battle  between 
flesh  and  spirit  is  depicted  in  them.    Makar  Djevusch- 


i84     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

kin  of  Poor  Folk,  the  old  saint  in  The  Idiot,  Raskol- 
nikov  of  Crime  and  Punish?nent,  Ilioscha  Karamazov 
of  The  Brothers  Karamazov — these  and  many  another 
are  all  folk  who  resist  classification  according  to  nerve 
disorders.  They  are  crystallized  cross-sections  of  the 
Russ  soul.  By  creating  them  Dostoevsky  became  the 
Russian  apostle  of  spiritual  realism,  of  spiritual  action. 

Here  are  his  words  for  it.  He  is  writing  about  the 
novel  that  later  was  produced  under  the  title  of  The 
Brothers  Karamazov. 

"I  have  my  principal  figure  ready  in  my  mind.  A  Rus- 
sian of  our  class,  getting  on  in  years,  not  particularly 
cultured,  although  not  uncultured  either,  and  of  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  social  importance,  quite  suddenly,  in 
ripe  age,  loses  his  belief  in  God.  His  whole  life  long 
he  has  been  taken  up  wholly  by  work,  has  never 
dreamed  of  escaping  from  the  rut,  and,  up  to  his  forty- 
fifth  year,  has  distinguished  himself  in  no  wise.  (The 
working  out  will  be  purely  psychological,  profound 
in  feeling,  and  thoroughly  Russian.)  The  loss  of  faith 
has  a  colossal  effect  on  him.  He  tries  to  attach  him- 
self to  the  younger  generation — the  atheists,  Slavs, 
Occidentalists,  the  Russian  sects  and  anchorites,  the 
mystics ;  among  others  he  comes  across  a  Polish  Jesuit ; 
thence  he  descends  to  the  abyss  of  the  Chlysty  Sect; 
and  finds  at  last  salvation  in  Russian  soil,  the  Russian 
Savior  and  the  Russian  God.  .  .  .  My  dear  friend,  I 
have  a  totally  different  conception  of  truth  and  realism 
from  that  of  our  realists  and  critics.  My  God!  If 
one  could  set  down  categorically  all  that  we  Russians 
have  gone  through  during  the  past  ten  years  in  the 
way  of  spiritual  development,  all  the  realists  would 
shriek  that  it  was  fantasy;  and  yet  it  would  be  pure 


DEFINING  DOSTOEVSKY  AND  OTHERS     185 

realism  I     It  is  the  one,  true,  deep  realism.     Theirs  is 
altogether  too  superficial." 


II 

In  one  of  his  essays,  Mr.  Gilbert  Chesterton  observes, 
"It  is  the  very  soul  of  Russia,  as  it  comes  to  us  like  a 
great  wind  from  out  of  the  lands  of  sunrise,  that  a 
weakness  when  confessed  almost  becomes  a  strength. 
Most  of  Russian  fiction  is  a  vast,  anarchic  confessional. 
It  would  seem  as  if  the  Russian  lived  not  only  in  agri- 
cultural but  psychological  communes.  One  of  our 
young  novelists,  who  knows  that  country  well,  declared 
to  me  that  a  Russian  starts  an  acquaintance  by  say- 
ing, 'I  murdered  my  sister  because  her  boots  creaked. 
Such  are  my  failings.  We  can  now  be  friends.'  This 
is  a  lively  caricature,  of  course,  but  it  is  one  of  those 
that  locates  a  truth." 

Mr.  Chesterton's  thought  came  to  me  forcibly  as 
I  approached  another  Russian  that  lends  himself  to 
definition.  I  cannot  recall  that  in  any  of  his  works 
Tolstoy  has  a  character  acknowledging  that  he  has  mur- 
dered his  sister  because  her  boots  creaked,  but  I  do  feel 
that  both  Tolstoy's  life  and  his  writings  constitute  a 
"vast,  anarchic  confessional."  His  strength  lay  in  his 
very  weakness;  his  force  in  his  oscillation. 

I  have  epitomized  Tolstoy  above  as  a  clashing  point 
between  East  and  West,  his  life  a  battlefield  on  which 
the  two  elements  fought  for  dominion. 

First  we  must  understand  what  these  two  contend- 
ing elements  were:  The  spirit  of  the  East  is  passivity; 
the  spirit  of  the  West  is  activity.  The  East  holds  to 
faith  without  works;  the  West  to  works.     The  East 


i86     THE  RUSSIANS;  AN  INTERPRETATION 

cultivates  a  quiescent  dogma  that  leads  to  annihilation ; 
the  West  holds  dogma  to  be  worthless  unless  it  can  be 
converted  into  the  dynamic  ethics  of  everyday  living. 

It  is  futile  to  study  Tolstoy — or  any  author,  for  that 
matter — apart  from  the  way  he  works  spiritually.  He 
may  be  quite  unconscious  of  those  forces'  being  at 
work;  they  are  working,  nevertheless. 

Tolstoy  was  all  too  aware  of  this  activity  within 
him;  hence  the  constant  disquietude  of  his  life.  In 
fact,  so  delicately  adjusted  was  his  mind  and  spirit  that 
he  veered  with  each  new  force.  Eternally  was  he  seek- 
ing Truth  and  Righteousness — the  Absolute  Beauty. 
Eternally  was  he  a  wanderer  after  them.  Eternally 
did  he  oscillate  because  time  and  again  was  he  disen- 
chanted. Not  always  did  he  go  forward;  often  he 
doubled  on  his  tracks.  Now  the  East  dragged  at  his 
footsteps ;  now  the  West  drove  him  on.  He  fled  from 
one  to  the  other.  He  fled  from  both.  Finally,  in  utter 
despair,  he  tottered  out  to  start  on  his  pilgrimage.  It 
was  his  last  flight.  It  is  said  that  he  hoped  to  find 
haven  in  a  monastery — the  East  in  Russia.  Instead, 
he  found  his  resting  place  in  the  most  Western  thing 
Russia  has  developed;  he  died  beside  the  railway  tracks 
in  a  little  railroad  station. 

Tolstoy's  life  reminds  one  of  the  action  of  a  man 
who  is  locked  in  a  room  with  many  doors,  who  tries 
each  door  time  and  again.  He  was  successively  an  aris- 
tocrat, born  and  bred  to  his  station;  a  student,  bowed 
down  with  the  weight  of  the  world's  evils ;  a  brave  sol- 
dier; a  rising  man  of  letters  whom  the  intellectuals 
dined  and  flattered ;  a  lover  of  cafes  and  chantants  and 
adventuresses ;  an  epicurean ;  a  happily  married  family 
man;  a  landed  gentleman  of  means;  a  V  Narodnist — 


DEFINING  DOSTOEVSKY  AND  OTHERS     187 

he  embraced  the  life  of  his  peasants;  a  novelist  who 
rebelled  right  and  left  against  the  State,  the  Church, 
the  bourgeois  conception  of  married  life  and  whose 
literary  self-assurance  left  him  utterly  impervious  to 
criticism;  a  preacher  and  founder  of  a  new  religion 
(this  was  a  reversion  at  the  age  of  fifty  to  a  scheme 
he  had  dreamed  out  as  a  university  student  at  the  age 
of  eighteen);  a  delver  into  Eesthetics;  a  dramatist  of 
force ;  a  schoolteacher — the  list  is  endless. 

What  was  behind  it  all  ?  or,  as  he  himself  expressed 
it,  using  Tchernyshevsky's  title,  "What  Is  To  Be 
Done?' 

A  man  of  constant  activities,  he  was  urged  on  to  seek 
a  way  out — a  reasoning,  rational  way  out.  Orthodoxy 
did  not  offer  him  the  norm  that  it  did  to  Dostoevsky, 
nor,  for  that  matter,  did  any  faith  or  shade  of  belief 
for  any  length  of  time.  He  was  both  passive  and 
active,  non-resistant  and  rebellious.  The  restlessness 
of  the  man's  soul  makes  him  one  of  the  most  tragic 
figures  in  the  history  of  literature.  Russia  has  had 
many  Boyoiskately — seekers  after  God;  most  of  them 
either  fell  back  into  the  abyss  of  despair  or  floated  into 
the  snug  haven  of  an  ecclesiastical  religion.  But  Tol- 
stoy eternally  pressed  forward;  albeit  he  met  with 
many  a  spiritual  impasse. 

"What  is  to  be  done?"  was  answered  in  his  life  by 
his  continuing  to  do  something  as  rationally  as  he  knew 
how,  however  contradictory  it  may  have  been  to  the 
thing  he  had  been  doing  immediately  previous  or  five 
years  before.  As  his  dictum  ran,  "Say  something  new, 
important  and  necessary  to  mankind" — and  he  said  it 
as  the  state  of  his  mind  bade  him  say. 

He  left  his  life  an  unfinished  story.     Each  student 


i88     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

may  make  up  his  own  denouement  to  that  story.  Each 
after  the  manner  of  his  own  thought  can  answer  the 
question  of  whither  Tolstoy  was  bound  when  he  left 
Yasnaya  Polyana  for  the  last  time.  Was  he  abandon- 
ing wife  and  family^  Was  he  abandoning  the  peas- 
ants whose  cause  he  had  so  nobly  and  tirelessly  cham- 
pioned *?  Or  was  he  following  the  call  of  the  pilgrim- 
age— going  on  after  the  Absolute  Beauty? 

Since  the  world  has  come  to  know  Dostoevsky,  Tol- 
stoy has  lost  some  of  his  initial  prestige.  Whereas  be- 
fore Tolstoy  represented  the  great  idealist  of  the  Rus- 
sian masses,  we  are  now  discovering  that  Dostoevsky 
came  closest  to  their  line  of  vision.  Tolstoy  set  about 
leading  the  moujik  along  a  rational  path.  He  met  de- 
feat because  the  moujik  is  anything  but  a  rational 
creature  and  because  Russia  refuses  to  be  measured  with 
the  mental  foot  rule.  His  life  and  work  represent  only 
one  phase  of  the  Russian  genus ;  and  of  the  two  his  life 
was  greater  than  his  writings.  What  he  did  was  far 
more  important  than  what  he  said. 

Dostoevsky  was  as  much  a  seeker  after  Absolute 
Beauty  as  was  Tolstoy,  the  difference  being  that 
Dostoevsky  believed  that  he  had  found  it.  Here  are 
his  words:  "All  writers,  not  ours  alone  but  foreigners 
also  who  have  sought  to  represent  the  Absolute  Beauty, 
were  unequal  to  the  task,  for  it  is  an  infinitely  difficult 
one.  The  beautiful  is  the  ideal;  but  ideals  with  us,  as 
in  civilized  Europe,  have  long  been  wavering.  There 
is  in  the  world  only  one  figure  of  absolute  beauty: 
Christ.  That  infinitely  lovely  figure  is,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  an  infinite  marvel  (the  whole  Gospel  of  St. 
John  is  full  of  this  thought:  John  sees  the  wonders 
of  the  Incarnation,  the  apparition  of  the  Beautiful.)" 


DEFINING  DOSTOEVSKY  AND  OTHERS     189 

And  Dostoevsky  held  that  the  ultimate  destiny  of 
Russia  was  to  hold  up  this  vision  of  Absolute  Beauty 
to  the  world's  adoring.  "Russia  must  reveal  to  the 
world  her  own  Russian  Christ,  whom  as  yet  the  people 
know  not.  .  .  .  There  lies,  as  I  believe,  the  inmost 
essence  of  our  vast,  impending  contribution  to  civiliza- 
tion, whereby  we  shall  awaken  the  European  people; 
there  lies  the  inmost  core  of  our  exuberant  and  intense 
existence  that  is  to  be." 

I  am  not  sure  but  that  in  his  heart  of  hearts  Tolstoy 
held  Russia's  destiny  to  be  somewhat  the  same — the 
manifestation  of  the  Russian  conception  of  Absolute 
Beauty  to  the  world.  Tolstoy  visualized  this  Absolute 
Beauty  after  the  fashion  of  a  glorified  peasant  in  a 
moujik's  blouse  and  boots,  his  hands  and  feet  pierced 
with  the  cruel  nails  of  injustice.  Dostoevsky  saw  Ab- 
solute Beauty  as  a  radiant  figure,  glistering  in  cloth 
of  gold,  whose  heart  bled  for  very  love  of  His  children. 
Tolstoy  worshiped  with  his  brain  and  his  brawn; 
Dostoevsky  worshiped  with  his  heart  and  on  his  knees. 
Of  the  two,  Dostoevsky  came  closest  to  the  moujik's 
viewpoint. 

Ill 

Perhaps  no  two  men  are  more  seemingly  far  apart 
than  Lord  Byron  and  Jack  London:  one  the  child  of 
Romanticism  and  its  foremost  apostle;  the  other  an 
apostle  of  brute  force  and  brute  Nature. 

In  his  day  Byron  was  widely  read  and  widely  copied ; 
in  the  evolution  of  Russian  literature  the  Romantic 
School  constitutes  an  important  stage.  He  may  be  said 
to  have  influenced  the  pens  of  Russians  more  than  any 
one  force  exerted  during  the  19th  Century.    His  popu- 


190     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

larity  was  due  to  the  fact  that  he  struck  a  responsive 
chord  in  the  Russian. 

We  generally  think  of  the  German  as  the  most  senti- 
mental person  in  the  world ;  at  least,  he  can  be  the  most 
"mussy"  sentimental  person.  Second  to  him  is  the 
Russ.  Russian  sentiment  is  tearful,  pessimistic,  self- 
pitying.  At  almost  stated  intervals  must  the  Russian 
experience  his  troublous  times.  This  is  all  part  and 
parcel  of  a  make-up  which  requires  an  occasional  pur- 
gative podvig,  an  occasional  religious  debauch,  to  clear 
tht  spiritual  man.  In  a  word,  the  Russian  keeps  sane 
by  periodically  becoming  insanely  sentimental.  Natu- 
rally, to  such  souls  the  romanticism  of  Byron  appealed 
deeply. 

Between  these  "attacks,"  what*? — Jack  Londonism  I 
The  favorite  American  or  foreign  author  in  Russia 
to-day  is  Jack  London.  All  classes  read  him.  Critics 
discuss  and  quarrel  over  him,  and  his  books  continue  to 
sell ;  you  find  them  in  the  shops,  on  railway  bookstalls 
and  in  the  kiosks.  He  appeals  to  the  exact  opposite 
in  the  Russ  that  Byron  appealed  to.  He  quickens  in 
them  one  thing  they  would  possess ;  he  awakens  a  desire 
for  physical  activity. 

In  Dostoevsky  we  found  a  man  of  spiritual  activity. 
Tolstoy's  life  and  works  show  a  man  of  constant  mental 
activity.  The  third  author  who  is  characteristically 
Russian  is  an  apostle  of  physical  activity.  He  is  Jack 
London's  Russian  counterpart.    I  refer  to  Gorky. 

At  first  one  usually  regards  Gorky  as  the  author  who 
has  popularized  the  Russian  tramp — the  vast  army 
of  hooligans,  sans-culottes  and  ex-men.^    He  calls  him- 

*  Other  Russians,  of  course,  have  written  of  the  tramp — Uspensky, 
Mamine,  Reshetvokov  and  others. 


DEFINING  DOSTOEVSKY  AND  OTHERS     191 

self  "the  embittered  one,"  as  his  pseudonym  translates 
— his  real  name  being  Alexis  Michaelevitch  Pyeshkov. 
He  paints  in  the  blackest  tones,  often  exaggerating  the 
facts  and  atmosphere.  But  these  are  only  the  mediums 
in  which  the  man  happened  to  work;  they  were  the 
tools  that  came  easiest  to  his  hands  because  they  were 
the  people  and  the  circumstances  and  the  outlook  about 
which  he  knew  most.  Behind  his  literary  machinery  is 
the  driving  force  of  a  gigantic  idea,  the  lethargy  of 
the  Russian  from  which,  once  in  a  while,  he  is  aroused 
to  move,  to  act,  to  be.  He  would  cure  the  paralysis  of 
the  Russian  will. 

By  no  means  did  Gorky  glorify  crime.  What  he 
did  glorify  was  the  action  in  crime,  in  fact,  anything 
that  these  ex-men  can  do  to  rouse  themselves  from  their 
damnable  weariness.  Konovalov,  the  baker  who 
abandons  the  chance  for  money  and  the  woman  he  loves 
to  follow  the  care-free,  individualistic  life  of  the  tramp, 
describes  his  malady  this  way:  "Well,  you  see,  I  be- 
came weary.  It  was  such  weariness,  I  tell  you,  little 
brother,  that  at  moments  I  simply  could  not  live.  It 
seemed  to  me  as  if  I  were  the  only  man  on  the  whole 
earth  and,  with  the  exception  of  myself,  there  was  no 
living  thing  anywhere.  And  in  those  moments  every- 
thing was  repugnant  to  me,  everything  in  the  world. 
I  became  a  burden  to  myself  and,  if  everybody  were 
dead,  I  wouldn't  even  sigh.  It  must  have  been  a  dis- 
ease with  me  and  the  reason  why  I  took  to  drink."  In 
another  place  the  same  character  acknowledged  that 
"there  is  a  spark  lacking  in  their  souls."  This  "spark" 
is  what  I  have  indicated  above — the  will  to  do,  the 
energy  to  act  and  achieve. 

Much  has  been  written  about  the  spiritual  lethargy 


192     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

that  has  been  consequent  on  political  suppression  in 
Russia.  We  hear  of  the  "Hamlet  soul"  that  geo- 
graphical isolation,  the  long  winters  and  political  evils 
have  given  the  empire.  However  much  of  the  opposite 
view  he  may  appear  to  champion,  Gorky  combats  this 
fallacy  relentlessly  in  his  stories.  The  tramp  is  neither 
isolated  nor  suppressed  in  Russia.  In  fact,  to  her 
tramps  and  outcasts  Russia  owes  much  of  the  develop- 
ment of  her  outlying  provinces.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  was  due  to  her  hooligan  element  that  some  of  the 
worst  outbreaks  of  the  Revolution  of  1905  came  to 
pass. 

The  trouble  with  the  Russian  soul  is  that  its  will 
to  do  is  not  invariably  transformed  into  the  type  of 
energy  and  action  that  we  of  the  West  recognize.  Its 
action  is  rebellious  and  iconoclastic.  It  challenges  and 
would  destroy  all  authority,  all  contentment,  fixed  con- 
ditions, in  short,  everything  stable.  A  strong  spirit 
of  Buddhistic  annihilation  possesses  the  Russ  soul. 
Iserguille  of  Gorky's  tale  proclaims  that  "in  life  there 
is  room  for  mighty  deeds,"  and  when  you  begin  to 
analyze  what  Gorky's  characters  mean  by  mighty  deeds, 
you  discover  that  they  are  nine  parts  action  without 
purpose — any  sort  of  movement.  To  do  is  a  mighty 
deed,  no  matter  how  or  why  I 

Gorky  painted  an  extreme  type,  yet  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  the  elements  that  go  to  make  up  his  tramps 
are,  to  a  certain  degree,  found  in  almost  all  classes 
of  Russians.  So  long  as  Gorky  stuck  to  that  stratum 
of  society  he  was  successful;  when  he  essayed  other 
types,  as  in  Thomas  Gordeyev  and  The  Smug  Citi- 
zen^ he  failed  of  popular  support.  Recently  in  his 
The  Confession  and  his  autobiography  he  has  returned 


DEFINING  DOSTOEVSKY  AND  OTHERS      193 

to  the  older  forms.  In  these,  as  in  the  earlier  works, 
he  shows  an  ungoverned  weakness  for  exaggeration: 
he  makes  his  misery  too  miserable  and  his  poverty  too 
poor.  There  is  a  great  deal  less  "Art  for  Life's  Sake" 
in  Gorky  than  his  first  critics  claimed — and  a  very  great 
deal  of  "Art  for  Art's  Sake." 

To  judge  the  entirety  of  the  Russian  character  by 
the  extreme  low  types  that  Gorky  depicts  would  be 
manifestly  unfair.  The  Russian  is  lethargic,  but  he 
also  can  be  quickly  stirred  to  the  depths.  The  Russian 
is  the  blindest  sort  of  idealist.  His  race  is  the  most 
persistently  idealistic  of  any  under  the  sun.  That  is 
why  the  Russians  make  such  poor  business  men  and 
such  good  musicians,  such  poor  politicians  and  such 
faithful  soldiers. 

During  the  past  few  years  Gorky's  popularity  in 
Russia  has  suffered  a  decline.  So  far  as  the  Russians 
themselves  are  concerned,  he  is  long  since  dead.  The 
initial  interest  in  his  work  was  the  sort  of  interest  that 
any  novelty  creates.  After  that  wore  off  there  was 
little  left.  Russian  readers  do  not  care  to  be  fed  on 
literature  about  their  underworld  any  more  than  Amer- 
ican readers  do.-^ 

Frankly,  the  interests  of  the  thinking  Russian  people 
are  not  centered  on  the  terrors  of  poverty,  the  evils 
of  the  bureaucracy,  exile  and  pogro?ns^  as  Americans 
have  been  led  to  believe.  Americans  found  Gorky 
highly  entertaining  because  they  were  led  to  believe 
that  his  pictures  were  the  solemn  truth  and  that  the 

*An  example  of  this  was  found  in  the  experience  of  a  certain  Rus- 
sian editor  who  started  to  run  serially  Stephen  Graham's  With  Poor 
Immigrants  to  America.  The  copy  was  vitally  interesting,  but  after 
the  first  few  installments  it  was  stopped,  because  readers  could  not 
arouse  any  enthusiasm  or  interest  over  poor  immigrants. 


194    THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

thinking  people  of  Russia  did  live  on  these  topics. 
Gorky  is  past  and  gone.  Russian  letters  will  look  upon 
his  like  many  times  again,  for  there  are  others  who  are 
carrying  on  the  really  essential  ideas  of  Gorky  in  writ- 
ing about  other  strata  of  society  in  Russia.  Sologub 
is  depicting  the  lethargy  of  life  in  the  small  provin- 
cial town  among  the  bourgeoisie  and  Kuprin  has  shown 
army  and  barracks  life  as  it  was  before  the  war.^ 


IV 

In  these  sketches  I  have  made  no  attempt  to  trace 
the  development  of  the  Russian  novel  (rather  an  am- 
bitious work  to  essay  within  the  compass  of  one  short 
chapter  I),  but  to  set  down  ideas  that  have  come  to  me 
from  time  to  time  as  I  read  and  reread  the  Russians. 
Fortunately  for  American  readers,  adequate  transla- 
tions of  most  of  the  important  Russians  are  now  avail- 
able, and  the  Russian  novel  will  in  time  receive  its  just 
share  of  attention. 

Literature  in  Russia  is  a  sensitive  index  to  the  evo- 
lution of  freedom.  Now  most  of  us,  when  we  think 
of  freedom  in  Russia,  can  visualize  only  freedom  from 
the  cruelty  of  the  Government.  The  Russian  knows 
other  bondage — bondage  more  terrible  and  defeat  more 
crushing.  It  knows  the  inherent  weakness  of  its  own 
soul.  The  deeper  one  goes  into  a  study  of  Russia 
and  the  Russian  people,  the  more  he  recognizes  the 
utter  futility  of  blaming  every  evil  in  Russia  on  the 
Government,  of  tracing  back  every  weakness  to  the 
weakness  of  the  State.     It  is  high  time  we  looked  at 

*  Of  late  it  would  seem  that  Kuprin  has  embraced  mysticism  after 
a  fashion.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  bosom  friend  of  Rasputin,  the 
late  court  confessor  and  leader  of  a  sect  of  fleshly  mystics. 


DEFINING  DOSTOEVSKY  AND  OTHERS     195 

Russian  literature  in  another  light.  It  is  an  index  of 
self- freedom,  spiritual  freedom,  yes,  even  physical  free- 
dom. In  this  light  read  Dostoevsky,  and  you  find  him 
the  master  of  spiritual  freedom,  of  spiritual  realism, 
of  spiritual  activity.  Read  Tolstoy,  and  you  find  him 
the  apostle  of  rational  freedom,  of  mental  activity. 
Read  Gorky,  and,  for  all  his  bitterness,  you  hear  the 
gospel  of  physical  activity,  the  call  of  the  will  to  do. 

During  the  past  decade  have  arisen  other  men  and 
other  types  of  work.  Some  of  it  was  either  retreat  into 
decadence  or  merely  a  reflection  of  the  contemporary 
modes  of  Continental  writers. 

Russia's  decadence  is  the  decadence  of  youth.  It  is 
raw,  gauche,  pornographic.  There  is  little  artistry 
about  it.  Sanine^  Homo  Sapiens  and  Kouzmine's 
The  Wings  are  thoroughly  dull  books  because  they  are 
thoroughly  inartistic.  Russia  took  to  them  because 
decadence  was  in  the  air.  America  took  to  them  be- 
cause advertising  was  in  the  papers  and  because  many 
American  readers  still  hold  that  the  presence  of  sex 
questions  in  a  book  automatically  makes  it  great  litera- 
ture. None  of  these  books  represented  any  new  truth 
or  pointed  to  any  new  solution  of  the  spiritual  bondage 
of  Russia  and  the  world.  They  were  distorted  reflec- 
tions of  better  books  by  greater  men  in  other  countries. 
All  three  books  were  interesting — as  hashish  is  inter- 
esting to  one  who  has  just  heard  of  the  hashish  habit 
— but  to  a  world  grown  old  and  sophisticated  in  books 
they  are  puerile  and  footless. 

Russia  will  come  out  of  that  stage  safely.  Already 
the  adolescent  intelligentia  have  ceased  sleeping  with 
The  Picture  of  Dorian  Grey  beneath  their  pillows.  The 
war  has  given  them  something  else  to  think  about  and 


196     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

growing  industries  have  provided  them  with  something 
better  to  do.  Moreover,  the  reading  folk  of  Russia 
have  too  much  red  blood  in  their  veins,  the  history  of 
their  literature  bears  too  many  noble  traditions  for  them 
to  carry  on  these  transient  novels  as  indicative  of  Rus- 
sian thought  and  literary  ideals. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  COLORS  ON  THE  RUSSIAN  PALETTE 

UNTIL  the  middle  of  the  igth  Century,  art  in 
Russia  existed  neither  for  Art's  sake  nor  for 
Life's  sake,  as  those  two  terms  have  been  con- 
strued. It  was  very  much  a  case  of  Art  for  God's  sake. 
Like  art  elsewhere  in  Europe,  it  was  a  child  of  the 
Church,  and  even  to  this  day  certain  phases  of  it  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  bear  the  stamp  of  the  ecclesiastical 
heritage. 

Naturally,  not  all  art  is  so  circumscribed.  With  the 
exception  of  one  or  two  rare  geniuses,  Russian  secular 
art  has  been  the  work  of  men  who  reflected  the  con- 
temporary modes  current  in  Europe.  Ecclesiastical  art 
is  as  it  has  been  for  generations.  Religious  art,  a  third 
phase,  is  developing  apart  from  either.  The  colors  on 
the  ecclesiastical  palette,  then,  are  one  thing;  the  colors 
on  the  religious  palette  are  another,  and  those  on  the 
secular  are  still  different. 

Until  Diaghileff  came  with  his  ballet  and  the  Bakst 
settings,  the  average  American  knew  little  more  of  Rus- 
sian art  than  Verestchagin,  whose  canvases,  exhibited 
here  in  the  '90's,  caused  a  stir  among  artists  and  lay- 
men alike.  Perhaps  it  is  unfortunate  that  our  knowl- 
edge has  been  so  limited,  for  there  are  hundreds  of 
paintings  worth  knowing  in  the  Tretykov  Gallery  in 
Moscow,  in  the  Alexander  III  Museum  in  Petrograd 

197 


198     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

and  in  other  galleries  of  that  city.  Verestschagin  was  a 
genius  whose  art  knew  the  bounds  of  neither  nation- 
ality nor  period,  and  he  is  by  far  the  greatest  artist 
Russia  has  produced.  His  work  bears  no  trace  of  na- 
tionalism; it  was  no  more  distinctively  Russian  than 
the  work  of  a  dozen  other  men.  To  say  so  would  be 
as  silly  as  saying  that  Turner  was  peculiarly  English. 

Art  possesses  a  passport  that  carries  it  across  all  fron- 
tiers. It  is  a  cosmopolitan  element.  Save  in  the  ex- 
treme contrasting  cases  of  Oriental  and  Occidental  art, 
it  can  rarely  be  judged  by  nationality.  It  must  be 
judged  either  on  the  basis  of  the  individual  genius  and 
his  followers,  or  the  distinctive  period. 

Russian  secular  artists  to-day  are  turning  out  prac- 
tically the  same  sort  of  work  that  characterizes  various 
schools  in  other  parts  of  the  Continent.  It  is  in  ec- 
clesiastical art  and  in  the  art  of  the  peasant  industries 
that  Russia  stands  alone. 


It  is  well  to  remember  that  in  Russia  churches  are 
still  built  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  that  the  glory  of 
God,  as  the  Orthodox  Church  views  it,  is  no  cold,  color- 
less intellectual  conception.  It  is  a  matter  of  rich 
pigment  and  solid  gold  and  priceless  gems,  years  of 
devout  labor  and  the  expenditure  of  thousands  of 
roubles.  In  short,  the  glory  of  God  in  Russia  is  very 
real  and  very  tangible — and  very  costly. 

The  first  form  of  art  to  make  its  appearance  was 
the  decoration  of  church  walls  with  religious  pictures 
whereby  the  faithful,  who  rarely  could  read,  learned 
the  story  of  the  scriptures  and  were  impressed  with  the 


COLORS  ON  THE  RUSSIAN  PALETTE        199 

meaning  of  the  dogma.  The  other  form  of  ecclesias- 
tical art  was  the  ikon  or  portable  sacred  picture,  which 
was  originally  used  in  connection  with  the  early  mis- 
sionary efforts  of  the  Church.  The  missionaries  needed 
symbols  of  their  teaching  to  show  the  heathen,  and 
the  ikon  was  to  Kiev  and  Novgorod  what  the  crucifix 
was  to  Rome  and  Canterbury.  These  ikons  came  to  be 
used  in  the  decoration  of  the  Church  itself,  the  ranging 
of  them  one  above  the  other  forming  the  ikonostas  or 
screen  between  the  congregation  and  the  sanctuary. 
Around  the  ikons  grew  up  the  ecclesiastical  art  of  Rus- 
sia. 

The  Church  has  from  the  first  shown  an  antipathy 
for  graven  images,  because  of  the  idols  of  the  primi- 
tive Slavs.  When  Vladimir  embraced  Christianity 
there  followed  a  wholesale  destruction  of  images,  al- 
though, in  a  few  rare  instances,  religious  workers  con- 
tinued to  carve  their  figures.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
17th  Century  statues  were  forbidden  by  the  Patriarch 
Philaret,  and  later  their  use  was  further  prohibited  by 
an  order  issued  in  1722.  Wood  carving  from  that 
time  on  became  merely  a  decorative  art  restricted  to 
the  embellishment  of  the  exterior  of  houses. 

So  it  has  come  about  that  the  ikon  is  a  flat  painting. 
The  frame  and  the  aureole  for  the  saint's  head  may 
be  as  elaborate  as  one's  desires  and  one's  purse  per- 
mits, but  the  painting  itself  must  be  flat.  Of  course 
a  worshiper  can  be  just  as  idolatrous  in  his  devotions 
before  a  painting  as  he  can  before  a  graven  image. 
This  is  a  point  that  Orthodox  apologists  may  well  skip. 
It  is  immaterial  anyhow. 

The  ikon  is  in  every  Orthodox  home,  shop,  railroad 
station,  theater,  bathhouse  and  train,  and  even  in  houses 


200     THE  RUSSIANS;  AN  INTERPRETATION 

of  ill-repute.  You  cannot  travel  or  live  in  Russia  with- 
out this  constant  reminder  of  the  spiritual  life.  One 
pays  due  respect  to  the  iko?i  on  entering  and  leaving 
the  house.  It  is  kept  in  the  corner — the  krazny  ougle^ 
the  beautiful  corner — surrounded  by  tapers  and  lamps 
and  other  holy  pictures  and  often  by  a  collection  of  fam- 
ily photographs.^  What  the  hearth  is  to  our  homes,  the 
krazny  ougle  is  to  the  Russian;  there  the  family 
gathers;  it  is  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  journey,  the 
start  and  finish  of  work;  it  is  the  heart  of  the  home. 

Just  as  in  the  days  when  the  Inquisition  dictated  the 
manner  of  painting  the  Virgin  and  made  strict  rulings 
on  such  details  as  the  seemly  covering  of  her  feet,  so 
was  the  manner  of  making  ikons  prescribed  in  the  early 
days  in  Russia.  The  reason  is  not  without  its  amusing 
logic.  The  Church  considered  it  utterly  presumptuous 
of  a  mere  man  to  paint  God — Whom  he  had  not  seen — 
after  the  whims  of  his  own  imagining.  Hence  the 
Church  told  him  how  it  was  to  be  done.  Moreover, 
the  artist  had  to  be  a  devout  man,  neither  a  murderer, 
nor  a  drunkard,  nor  a  liar,  nor  a  ribald.  Having  ful- 
filled these  personal  qualifications  and  having  proved 
that  he  possessed  the  gift  for  painting,  he  was  permitted 
to  set  about  his  work. 

"The  painter  selected  a  wooden  panel  the  required 
size  and  shape.  Next  he  grooved  it  out  a  little  for  the 
background,  and  fixed  slats  across  the  back  to  prevent 
its  slitting.     After  this  the  panel  was  covered  with  a 

^  Every  Russian  at  one  stage  of  his  life  has  a  flair  for  being  photo- 
graphed. It  is  usually  while  the  lad  is  doing  his  military  service. 
For  the  two  months  preceding  Easter  the  photographers  of  Russia 
are  worked  to  death  snapping  these  lads  in  their  full-dress  uniform 
and  cocky  airs.  The  photograph  is  then  sent  home  for  an  Easter 
present  and  hung  up  in  the  krazny  ougle,  a  reminder  to  the  family 
not  to  forget  the  boy  in  their  prayers. 


COLORS  ON  THE  RUSSIAN  PALETTE       201 

kind  of  liquid  glue,  and  over  that  was  laid  a  cement, 
of  which  alabaster  was  a  component  part;  it  was  then 
scraped  smooth  with  a  knife  and  polished  with  a  rough, 
fibrous  plant  known  as  Horse-tail.  At  a  later  date 
the  panel  was  occasionally  covered  with  canvas,  on 
which  several  layers  of  plaster  were  laid.  The  studios 
of  the  master  ikonographers  provided  a  few  traditional 
models,  and  when  it  was  desired  to  repeat  one  of  these 
designs,  its  outline  was  painted  over  with  a  compound 
of  dried  garlic,  Chinese  ink  and  vermilion  or  other 
strong  coloring  matter;  a  sheet  of  dampened  parch- 
ment or  paper  was  pressed  upon  the  surface  of  the 
model  picture,  and  as  soon  as  it  had  received  the  neces- 
sary impression,  it  was  transferred  to  the  prepared 
panel  and  rubbed  over  the  back  with  a  burnisher  or 
polished  stone.  In  the  case  of  an  original  design,  the 
painter  sometimes  drew  it  straight  away  upon  the  panel 
in  pencil  or  Chinese  ink.  In  the  frescoes  and  larger 
pictures  the  outlines  were  scratched  or  grooved  out  with 
a  pointed  instrument,  the  process  being  called  grapheya. 
The  colors  were  thus  kept  distinct  from  each  other. 
The  trees  and  hills  and  other  accessories  of  ikonographic 
landscape  were  put  in  first,  then  the  robes,  and  last  of 
all  the  faces.  Finally,  the  picture  was  treated  with 
an  oily  varnish  called  alif.'"  ^ 

From  time  to  time  Russian  artists  have  painted 
ikons  in  other  fashions  than  the  accepted  mode,  with 
varying  degrees  of  success.  Among  the  moujiks^  how- 
ever, there  is  a  strong  feeling  that  an  ikon  is  ineffectual 
unless  it  is  painted  in  the  regulation,  stereotyped  style 

*  The  Russian  Arts.    Rosa  Newmarch.     Pages  50-51.     New  York, 
1915. 


202     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

— the  crude  brush  work  and  cruder  drawing  that  char- 
acterized the  Byzantine  school. 

The  manufacture  of  these  ikons  now  comprises  one 
section  of  the  peasant  industries.  It  thrives  especially 
in  the  Vladimir  Government.  Here  ikons  are  made 
both  for  the  Orthodox  and  for  the  Old  Believers.  The 
simpler  kinds  can  be  had  for  a  few  copecks ;  the  prices 
range  thence  into  the  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  roubles.  These  very  costly  and  heavily  jew- 
eled types  are  generally  found  in  the  churches.  The 
miracle  working  ikon  of  the  Virgin  of  Vladimir  in  the 
Cathedral  of  the  Assumption  at  Moscow,  to  quote  one 
example,  bears  among  its  jewels  a  single  emerald  that 
alone  is  valued  at  $50,000. 

In  addition  to  the  painted  ikons  are  those  of  brass, 
which  can  be  occasionally  picked  up  in  our  antique 
shops.  They  are  either  in  a  single  panel  or  triptych 
ingeniously  hinged  to  fold  up  into  small  compass.  The 
figures  are  slightly  raised  and  the  background  picked 
out  with  vari-colored  enamels.  The  cruder  work  is 
generally  characteristic  of  early  Russian  craftsmen, 
whereas  those  that  show  a  finer  technique  can  generally 
be  classed  as  of  Armenian  manufacture.  These  small 
ikons  are  carried  with  one  on  a  journey  and,  in  the 
case  of  the  smallest  types,  are  worn  about  the  neck 
much  in  the  manner  of  a  scapular. 

II 

Ecclesiastical  frescoes  have  always  held  a  lively  in- 
terest for  Russia's  artists.  The  earliest  work  was  ex- 
ecuted in  mosaics  after  the  fashion  of  Byzantium,  but 
the  demand  for  quicker  and  less  expensive  work  and  a 


COLORS  ON  THE  RUSSIAN  PALETTE       203 

more  workable  medium  called  into  use  the  painted 
mural. 

Greek  artists  were  responsible  for  much  of  the  earli- 
est work  at  Kiev — and  fragments  of  it  are  still  to  be 
seen  in  the  old  cathedral  there.  When  Novgorod  in 
the  north  outstripped  Kiev,  Russian  artists  began  to 
be  employed  in  the  decoration  of  the  church  walls.  As 
in  the  matters  of  Church  administration  and  dogma, 
so  in  the  decoration  of  the  edifices,  the  guiding  in- 
fluence of  Byzantium  was  paramount  up  to  the  13th 
Century.  The  drawing  is  crude  and  the  color,  while 
now  toned  down  by  time,  has  evidently  been  strong — 
bluish  green  and  vermilion  predominating. 

By  the  15th  Century  the  religious  artists  began  to 
draw  away  from  Byzantium;  the  backgrounds  of  the 
frescoes  executed  at  this  time  show  Russian  scenes  and 
characters.  This  development  was  contemporary  with 
the  rise  of  Moscow  and  the  evolution  of  the  Russian 
state  about  that  city.  The  greatest  artist  of  the  period 
was  Roubliev,  whose  decorations  are  still  to  be  seen 
on  the  walls  of  the  Cathedral  of  the  Trinity  in  the 
Sergievo  Monastery  outside  Moscow.  For  the  most 
part,  the  work  of  this  period  was  done  by  monks  and 
in  the  course  of  a  few  generations  it  became  a  highly 
specialized  art — one  man  painting  the  scenery,  another 
the  faces,  a  third  the  robes. 

In  the  16th  and  17th  Centuries  this  form  of  ikonog- 
raphy  reached  the  highest  point  of  its  development.  It 
had  for  patrons  the  wealthy  family  of  Straganov,  the 
Medicis  of  Russia,  and  it  also  was  influenced  by  Dutch 
and  Danish  painters  who  introduced  the  idea  of  paint- 
ing these  church  frescoes  from  life  instead  of  making 
them  repeat  the  accepted,  stereotyped  designs.     The 


204     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

stiff  austerity  of  the  figures  began  to  pass  away  and  the 
work  showed  signs  of  humanity  and  sympathy. 

Of  the  later  painters  who  have  done  striking  church 
frescoes,  Victor  Vasnietsov  and  Michael  Nesterov,  his 
disciple,  stand  out  above  the  rest.  Both  men  have 
given  a  new  impetus  to  this  form  of  ecclesiastical  art 
and  under  their  influence  it  would  seem  to  have  begun 
a  new  development.  To  their  names  can  be  added 
the  name  of  Vrubel  because  of  his  ikons  for  the  Kirilov 
Monastery,  in  which  his  studies  of  the  Byzantine  modes 
are  evident. 

We  can  say  with  assurance  that  ecclesiastical  art  in 
Russia  will  be  a  vital  part  of  her  artistic  development, 
because  so  long  as  the  Church  enjoys  the  support  of 
the  Government  and  of  the  majority  of  the  people,  it 
will  be  in  a  position  to  foster  this  specialized  but  im- 
portant side  of  Russian  art  and  to  keep  it  distinctively 
Russian. 

I  have  spoken  at  length  of  ecclesiastical  art  for  the 
simple  reason  that  I  sincerely  believe  that  it,  the  peas- 
ant industries,  the  folk  music  and  the  dance  are  the 
four  phases  of  artistic  expression  which  are  show- 
ing any  national  individuality  in  Russia  to-day.  Dis- 
tinction of  style  unquestionably  abounds,  so  does  per- 
sonal individuality,  but,  the  critics  to  the  contrary,  it 
is  a  debatable  point  whether  one  can  point  to  the  work 
of  any  school  in  the  past  century  or  the  present  and 
say,  "That  is  Russian.  That  expresses  the  Russian 
spirit  and  exhibits  the  Russian  viewpoint  on  life. 
That  shows  the  East-and-Westness  of  the  race." 

Consider  the  architecture  of  Russian  cities,  for  ex- 
ample. The  first  thing  the  traveler  is  struck  with  in 
Petrograd  and  even  in  Moscow  is  the  prevalence  of 


COLORS  ON  THE  RUSSIAN  PALETTE       205 

the  Classical  designs.  With  few  exceptions  the  archi- 
tecture of  Russia  during  the  past  three  centuries  has 
been  French  and  Italian.  This  applies  not  alone  to 
palaces,  public  buildings  and  theaters,  but  to  the 
datcha^  the  country  house,  as  well.  In  ecclesiastical 
architecture  Russia  presents  unquestioned  individu- 
ality. The  Byzantine  modes  are  still  strong,  and  save 
for  such  examples  as  St.  Isaac's  Cathedral  and  the 
Kazan  Cathedral  at  Petrograd  and  the  Church  of  St. 
Andrew  at  Kronstadt,  the  influence  of  Continental 
architecture  did  not  penetrate  into  ecclesiastical  build- 
ing- 

The  one  exception  I  would  make  to  this  denial  of 
the  existence  of  a  distinctly  individualistic  and  national 
school  of  Russian  art  is  in  book-illustrating.  In  this 
we  find  art  registering  the  economic  interests  of  a  cul- 
tured people.  During  the  Slavophil  days  of  the  past 
century  and  afterward,  an  awakening  interest  in  na- 
tional folklore  spread  over  Russia.  In  our  time  it 
finds  expression  in  the  Russia  Ballet  and  in  the  Bakst 
settings.  It  also  found  expression  in  illustrations  for 
books  of  fairy  stories  and  the  bylinas  or  hero  ballads. 
In  the  work  of  Bihbin,  Miss  Polyenov,  Davydov  and 
Korovin,  to  name  only  a  few,  traces  of  nationalism  are 
evident. 

Ill 

The  colors  on  the  peasant's  palette  are  crude.  The 
moujik  has  a  passion  for  lively  colors.^  He  wears  a 
bright-red  blouse,  he  paints  his  furniture,  his  spoons, 
his  walls;  his  women-folk  embroider  their  dresses  in 

*In  the  peasant's  argot,  precrasny — "very  red" — means  "very  beau- 
tiful." 


2o6    THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow.  This  penchant  for  ele- 
mental colors  is  strong  and  primitive  and  healthy. 
There  is  no  pose  about  it.  The  peasant  likes  strong 
color  for  the  same  reason  that  he  likes  strong  drink — he 
is  an  extremist. 

In  the  ingenuity  of  the  carved  and  painted  peasant 
toys,  in  the  colors  of  their  embroideries,  in  the  intricacy 
of  their  native  jewelry  and  the  honest  crudeness  of 
their  pottery  one  finds  virile  craftsmanship  unspoiled 
as  yet  by  too  flattering  a  popularity. 

In  their  cleverness  of  construction  and  keenness  of 
caricature,  the  toys  especially  show  a  remarkable 
heritage  from  the  East.  There  are  the  dolls  that  fit 
one  into  another,  the  "pull"  toys — you  pull  a  stick  and 
the  figures  on  it  move  with  amazing  realism — and  the 
carved  and  turned  games  and  knickknacks  that  are 
found  in  every  Russian  household. 

On  my  desk  is  a  varied  assortment — a  late  Christmas 
gift  from  a  Russian  friend.  Here  is  a  little  wooden 
mushroom,  no  bigger  than  a  walnut.  Slip  off  the  top 
and  out  tumbles  a  jackstraw  game,  a  complete  tea-set — 
samovar,  cups,  saucers,  goblets,  cordial  bottles,  pitchers, 
not  one  over  a  quarter  of  an  inch  high,  yet  each  is  per- 
fect in  every  detail.  They  have  been  turned  on  a  lathe. 
Imagine  the  skill  and  patience  of  the  koustar  who  made 
them. 

Another  toy  is  of  the  "pull"  variety.  A  stick  of 
wood  with  a  pull  rod  run  through  it  holds  the  figure 
of  an  old  woman  dragging  a  squalling  youth  by  the 
hand.  Pull  the  rod  and  Disobedient  Ivan  precipitately 
approaches  the  inevitable  switching.  Of  the  same 
character  is  the  old  moujik  plowing.  There  is  the 
broken-down,  sad-eyed  horse,  the  aged  farmer  with  his 


COLORS  ON  THE  RUSSIAN  PALETTE       207 

gnarled  hands  clasped  about  the  handle  of  the  rude 
shosha — the  native  plow — and  the  reins  thrown  about 
his  shoulders.  Each  time  you  pull  the  rod  old  Serge 
drives  the  coulter  deep. 

In  addition  to  these  are  several  varieties  of  crows — 
crows  carved  and  painted,  crows  carved  and  stained. 
The  crow  is  the  lucky  bird  of  Russia. 

Travel  eastward  through  the  Russian  Empire  and 
search  out  the  native  bazaars  in  the  obscure  towns,  and 
toys  such  as  these  will  be  found.  Their  counterparts 
are  also  to  be  picked  up  in  native  Chinese  and  Japanese 
shops — that  is,  the  shops  which  do  not  specialize  in 
German-made  tourist  knickknacks.  It  would  seem 
that  the  toy-makers  of  Russia  learned  their  art  more 
from  their  eastern  neighbors  and  Tartar  progenitors 
than  from  the  Teutonic  masters  of  toys. 

Of  late  years,  since  the  Government  has  been  foster- 
ing the  handicrafts,  some  remarkably  beautiful  furni- 
ture has  been  created  in  the  Moscow  kustarny  trade- 
schools.  It  is  heavy  of  line  and  cumbersome,  but 
relieved  by  intricate  carving  of  conventionalized 
native  designs.  Some  of  it  is  painted  after  the  peasant 
manner;  most  of  it,  however,  is  simply  stained  and 
oiled,  the  carving  being  sufficiently  decorative  in  itself. 

In  these  products  can  be  read  the  promise  of  a  dis- 
tinctive art  that  may  be  continued  when  life  in  Russia 
has  again  assumed  normal  proportions.  It  is  different 
from  the  alleged  peasant  furniture  that  Vienna  or  Ber- 
lin has  produced,  resembling  rather  the  Scandinavian 
native  furniture.  If  its  manufacture  is  developed  into 
a  paying  industry,  it  may  result  in  the  creation  of  dis- 
tinctive interiors  in  Russian  homes.  The  interior  of  the 
average  Russian  home  is  still  a  sad  copy  of  the  worst 


208     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

days  of  the  French  gilt,  crimson  and  scroll  atrocities, 
and  anything  that  will  relieve  the  condition  will  be  a 
cause  for  thanksgiving. 

IV 

In  considering  the  broad  aspects  of  Russian  art  it  is 
not  irrelevant  to  note  the  fact  that  the  intellectual 
classes  are  deeply  interested  in  its  progress  and  pro- 
ductions. The  cultured  Russian,  like  his  brother  of 
the  moujik  class,  is  an  extremist;  when  he  is  cultured 
he  is  very  cultured,  his  knowledge  and  interests  are 
catholic.  He  is  keenly  alive  to  what  is  being  done  in 
art  and  literature  and  music  the  world  over,  and  he 
appreciates  the  potentialities  of  his  own  people.  Art 
in  Russia  does  not  want  for  popular  interest  and  sup- 
port, nor  for  the  support  of  the  aristocracy  and  the 
royal  family.  Ever  since  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great 
the  Tsar  has  been  the  patron  of  the  arts  and  it  has 
been  due  to  royal  assistance  and  interest  that  many  of 
Russia's  greatest  artists  have  been  able  to  succeed. 

Previous  to  the  war — and  it  is  even  more  so  since 
the  war  has  given  the  Empire  a  solidarity — the  cultured 
people  have  been  fostering  all  forms  of  art  and  handi- 
craft which  are  distinctly  national.  While  at  times 
the  effort  has  been  grotesquely  a  pose,  there  is  a  lively 
and  very  sincere  interest  in  the  artistic  potentialities 
of  the  peoples  of  the  Empire.  We,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  world,  have  only  seen  snatches  of  this,  but  what 
we  have  seen  has  awakened  unwonted  enthusiasm.  Un- 
questionably, Russia  has  something  important  and  vital 
to  say  to  the  world  of  art,  just  as  she  has  had  something 
important  and  vital  to  say  to  the  world  of  music.  In 
that  day  when  her  voice  reaches  us,  we  will  understand ! 


CHAPTER  XI 


WHEN  RUSSIA  SINGS 


ONE  does  not  ordinarily  look  upon  the  Russians 
as  a  happy  people.  Assemble  the  composite 
Russ  from  the  pictures  given  of  him  in  Rus- 
sian novels,  in  popular  legends  and  in  newspaper  re- 
ports, and  he  "stacks  up"  a  dour,  sodden  fellow  with 
a  political  chip  on  his  shoulder,  a  vodka  bottle  in  one 
hand  and  a  bomb  in  the  other.  Or,  if  that  would  seem 
too  much  of  a  caricature,  he  might  be  pictured  as  a 
rather  large,  lethargic,  square-bearded  gentleman  in 
furs,  who  suffers  from  some  strange  pornial  passion 
and  a  weakness  for  gambling.  It  is  indeed  difficult  for 
the  outside  world  to  adjust  itself  to  the  realization  that 
these  Russians  and  all  their  brothers  are  a  lively  race — • 
that  Russia  really  does  sing. 

When  the  Russian  Ballet  was  presented  to  American 
audiences,  when  American  choirmasters  discovered  the 
singular  spiritual  quality  of  Russian  church  music  and 
performed  it  for  American  congregations,  when  the 
various  symphony  leaders  and  opera  managers  pre- 
sented the  works  of  Russian  composers,  America  was 
afforded  a  glimpse  of  Russia  just  as  genuine  and  sin- 
cere as  that  given  by  the  pages  of  Turgenev,  Tolstoy, 
Dostoevsky  and  Gorky.  Contrasts  as  they  are,  the  two 
propound  the  strange  paradox  of  the  Russian  tempera- 

209 


210     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

ment,  and  point  out  the  wisdom  of  refusing  to  judge 
Russia  and  the  Russians  solely  by  one  expression  of 
the  national  genus.  For  the  same  Russ  who  weeps 
also  sings ;  the  same  folk  who  would  seem  to  be  utterly 
paralyzed  in  will  dance  with  a  fervor  and  grace  rarely 
found  in  other  lands. 

The  Russians  are  as  instinctively  musical  as  the  Ger- 
mans, and,  striking  an  average,  their  folk  music — the 
spontaneous  music  of  the  race — is  lighter  in  touch  and 
more  cheery  in  tone.  By  birth,  Russia  is  a  singing  na- 
tion, a  dancing  nation.     Make  no  mistake  about  that. 

The  traveler  to  Russia  soon  discovers  this  pleasant 
truth,  and  the  recollections  of  the  spontaneous  music 
of  the  people  can  never  be  forgotten.  .  .  .  There  was 
that  first  morning  in  Petersburg  years  back,  when  we 
were  awakened  by  singing  and  rushed  to  the  window 
to  see  four  huge  privates  tramping  down  the  Prospekt 
singing — simply  singing  to  keep  in  step.  .  .  .  Then 
there  were  the  songs  the  emigrants  used  to  sing  on  the 
train  going  to  Tcheliabinsk  and  the  Russian  Land  of 
Promise,  the  queer  yapping  songs  that  they  accom- 
panied with  balalaika  and  accordion.  .  .  .  And  the 
funeral  in  the  little  Shilka  hamlet  on  a  cold  March 
morning  when  the  farmer  choir  sang  with  a  devout 
fervor  and  beauty  that  paled  into  insignificance  mem- 
ories of  the  gilded  glory  of  the  Imperial  Chapel  Choir. 
.  .  .  And  the  Cossack  hymns  to  the  Virgin  that  used 
to  float  down  breeze  in  the  wan  twilights  after  the 
boom  of  the  sunset  gun  from  the  barracks  around  the 
bend  had  ricocheted  through  the  cleft  of  the  stark, 
gaunt  hills  and  died  down  across  the  stretches  of  pur- 
ple snow  and  the  jagged,  ice-choked  Amur. 


WHEN  RUSSIA  SINGS  211 


All  Russia  sings.  No  nation  under  the  sun  has  such 
a  body  of  folk  songs,  and  none  possesses  such  variety. 
From  arctic  Russia  in  the  north  to  the  Caucasus,  from 
the  Ukraine  to  the  Far  East  provinces,  the  people  sing, 
and  sing  spontaneously.  The  extent  of  this  territory 
with  its  diversity  of  climates  and  peoples  has  led  to 
confusion  by  those  who  know  Russian  folk  songs  only 
superficially  and  judge  them  all  of  one  sort — the  sad 
lamentations  and  the  melancholy  love  ballads. 

Like  the  people  who  make  and  sing  them,  folk  songs 
are  products  of  environment.  To  be  sure,  the  subject 
matter  may  be  national  or  a  local  adaptation  of  a  racial 
theme,  but  the  nature  of  the  melodies  themselves,  the 
quality  of  their  tunes  and  rhythm  are  all  deeply  af- 
fected by  climate  and  natural  surroundings.  Thus,  the 
songs  of  Scotland  differ  from  the  folk  songs  of  Kent 
and  Surrey.  The  former  are  m^ore  melancholy,  they 
reflect  the  environment  of  the  north.  The  same  is  true 
of  the  folk  songs  of  the  north  of  Russia,  whereas  the 
songs  of  the  Ukraine,  the  Crimea  and  the  Caucasus  are 
quite  different.  In  Great  Russia  the  ballads  celebrate 
courage,  daring  and  orgy,  but  in  the  Dnieper  Valley 
the  songs  reflect  the  kindliness  of  nature — they  are 
about  the  grass,  the  trees,  the  stars  and  man's  com- 
munion with  them.  It  is  rather  unfortunate  in  this 
respect  that  Russia  has  been  so  much  alluded  to  as  the 
Empire  of  the  North,  for  she  is  also  an  empire  of  the 
South  and  of  the  East,  and  in  classifying  her  native 
ballads  one  must  not  forget  her  more  pleasant  climes 
that  have  produced  a  laughing  people  and  their  laugh- 
ing songs. 


212     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

Another  phase  of  folk  songs  in  Russia  is  that  the 
more  clement  regions  have  produced  a  greater  body 
of  ballads  than  the  less  kindly.  While  this  is  undoubt- 
edly due  to  the  natural  increase  or  decrease  of  popula- 
tion according  to  climates,  it  cannot  be  questioned  that 
singing  Nature  produces  a  singing  people.  The 
Ukraine,  for  example,  supplies  an  appreciable  majority 
of  the  Russian  peasant  songs  as  well  as  most  of  the 
Empire's  finest  singers.  From  the  Ukraine  were  chosen 
the  first  members  of  the  Imperial  Chapel  Choir,  and 
ever  since  Little  Russia  has  contributed  the  majority 
of  the  choristers. 

As  in  other  nations,  the  first  music  was  the  music 
of  the  epic  songs  and  the  ceremonial  ballads.  The 
former  are  called  in  Russia  hylinas^  the  main  groups 
being  the  Vladimir  Cycle  of  Kiev,  the  Novgorod  Cycle 
and  the  Moscow  or  Imperial  Cycle.  Later  bylinas  re- 
count the  glories  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  Peter  the  Great 
and  even  subsequent  personages.  These  songs,  al- 
though corrupted  and  combined  with  others  in  the 
course  of  mouth-to-mouth  transmission,  were  brought 
into  existence  by  definite  historic  facts  and  events.  The 
ceremonial  songs,  on  the  other  hand,  were  inherited 
from  the  heathen  days  and  were  preserved  for  certain 
special  occasions.  Although  the  heathen  customs  were 
taken  over  by  the  Church  and  the  old  festivals  merged 
into  Church  holy  days,  the  ceremonial  songs  still  re- 
tained their  place  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  In  time 
they  lost  their  purely  ceremonial  nature  and  became 
part  of  the  everyday  songs  of  the  countryside.  The 
Church  has  always  seemed  to  fear  an  evil  result  from 

^  An  excellent  translation  of  these  bylinas  has  been  made  by  Isabel 
Florence  Hapgood  under  the  title  of  The  Epic  Songs  of  Russia.  New 
York,  1886,  1916. 


WHEN  RUSSIA  SINGS  213 

the  singing  of  such  folk  ballads,  and  even  as  late  as 
the  early  19th  Century  carried  on  a  persistent  and 
senseless  warfare  against  them.  In  spite  of  this  many 
exist  to  this  day  and  on  them  have  been  founded  much 
of  modern  Russian  music.  While  the  last  few  years 
have  witnessed  a  revival  of  interest  in  the  bylinas^  only 
in  one  region  of  the  empire  are  they  still  sung  in  the 
old  fashion — in  the  remote  swamp  of  the  Olonetz  Gov- 
ernment in  the  extreme  northeast. 

The  ancient  manner  of  singing  these  folk  songs  was 
not  unlike  that  which  obtained  in  other  countries  dur- 
ing the  Middle  Ages,  and  since  Russia  has  developed 
slower  than  the  rest  of  the  Continent,  there  are  still 
to  be  found  remnants  of  the  ancient  customs.  Itinerant 
psalm  singers,  Kalyeky  Perekozkie,  are  to  be  found  on 
the  highways  and  at  the  shrines,  performing  their  stiks 
or  religious  ballads.  In  his  collection  ^  of  folk  songs 
Rimsky-Korsakov  has  preserved  their  "Greeting," 
There  were,  in  addition,  the  nursery  rhymes  and  jin- 
gles, the  lullabies,  the  worbnen's  songs,  the  epic  songs 
sung  by  wandering  mummers  and  minstrels  at  the 
houses  of  the  boyars,  the  songs  of  seed  planting  and 
harvest,  the  winter  ballads  and  the  ballads  of  spring. 

The  musical  nature  of  these  songs  has  been  described 
by  Cesar  Cui :  "Russian  folk  songs  are  generally  writ- 
ten within  a  very  restricted  compass,  and  only  rarely 
move  beyond  the  interval  of  a  fifth  or  sixth.  The  older 
the  song,  the  narrower  is  the  range  of  its  compass.  The 
theme  is  always  short,  sometimes  extending  no  farther 

*  The  earliest  collection  of  folk  songs  was  made  by  Pratch,  a  musi- 
cian from  Prague  in  1790.  It  contained  149  songs.  Balakirev  in  1866 
brought  out  a  collection  of  46,  and  later  Rimsky-Korsakov  produced 
his  collection  of  loo.  Since  that  time  there  have  been  innumerable 
collections.    Any  music  store  carries  at  least  one  or  two  in  stock. 


214     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

than  two  bars,  but  these  two  bars  are  repeated  as  often 
as  the  exigencies  of  the  text  demand. 

"The  folk  songs  are  sung  either  by  a  single  voice 
or  by  a  chorus.  In  the  latter  case,  a  single  voice  leads 
off  with  the  subject,  and  then  the  chorus  takes  it  up.^ 
The  harmonization  of  these  tunes  is  traditional  and  ex- 
tremely original.  The  different  voices  of  the  chorus 
approach  each  other  until  they  form  a  unison,  or  else 
separate  into  chords  (only  the  chords  are  often  not 
filled  in),  and,  generally  speaking,  a  melody  treated 
polyphonically  ends  in  a  unison. 

"The  songs  for  a  single  voice  are  frequently  accom- 
panied on  a  stringed  instrument  called  a  balalaika — a 
kind  of  guitar  with  a  triangular  belly,  the  strings  of 
which  are  either  plucked  or  set  vibrating  by  a  glissando. 
As  to  the  songs  for  chorus  they  are  rarely  provided  with 
an  accompaniment;  when  they  do  have  one,  it  is  played 
on  a  sort  of  oboe,  which  uses  the  melody  as  the  basis 
of  a  number  of  contrapuntal  improvisations  which  are, 
no  doubt,  not  much  in  accordance  with  the  strict  rules 
of  music,  but  are  exceedingly  picturesque.^ 

"Russian  folk  songs  may  be  classified  in  the  follow- 
ing ways:  singing  games,  or  songs  sung  on  feast  days 
to  the  accompaniment  of  different  games  and  dances; 
songs  of  special  occasions,  of  which  the  wedding  song 
is  the  most  popular  type ;  street  songs,  or  serenades  for 
chorus  of  a  jovial  or  burlesque  character;  songs  of  the 

*The  parallel  to  this  form  of  singing  is  found  in  the  recitation  of 
the  choir  offices.  The  leader  of  the  peasant  song — really  a  precentor 
— strikes  up  the  theme,  the  zapie-vokya,  and  the  others  join  in  with 
the  podgolossly  or  free  imitations  of  the  theme.     R.  W. 

*At  present  the  accordion  and  even  the  mouth  organ  and  the  Jew's 
harp  are  used  by  the  peasant  for  accompanying  songs  and  dances; 
in  fact,  the  accordion  is  even  more  seen  than  the  balalaika  since  it 
requires  less  skill  of  the  performer,     R.  W. 


WHEN  RUSSIA  SINGS  215 

bourlaks  or  of  the  barge-haulers;  and  songs  for  a  single 
voice  of  every  sort  and  kind." 

The  revival  of  interest  in  folk  songs  in  Russia  has 
been  steadily  growing  in  the  past  fifty  years.  Up  to 
the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  cityward  movement 
had  not  become  a  factor  in  the  life  of  the  countryside, 
and  the  majority  of  the  folk  songs  were  as  yet  uncor- 
rupted  by  the  street  ballads  of  a  lower  order.  It  is 
perhaps  fortunate  for  Russia  that  at  this  time  the  V 
Narodny  Movement,  taken  up  by  the  intelligentia^  di- 
rected its  efforts  among  other  things  to  a  preservation 
of  the  old  country  ballads  in  some  permanent  form 
for  posterity.  Professor  Wiener  in  his  An  Interpreta- 
tion of  the  Russian  People  makes  an  interesting  claim 
apropos  of  this  interest  in  folk  ballads.  He  states  that 
its  source  was  American,  that  Sokalski,  having  heard 
our  negro  songs  while  living  in  this  country,  returned 
to  Russia  resolved  to  collect  and  preserve  the  songs  of 
the  moujiks. 

From  these  plebeian  sources  Russian  music  has 
worked  its  way  up  to  the  plane  of  its  finest  composi- 
tions. In  fact,  the  School  of  Russian  music  owes  its 
individuality  to  this  body  of  folk  formulas  and  to  their 
peculiar  character  in  harmony. 

II 

The  early  Church  music,  like  all  things  connected 
with  Russian  Christianity,  was  inherited  from  By- 
zantium and  later  was  crossed  with  Greek  influence,  an 
influence  still  apparent  today. 

St.  John  of  Damascus,  who  lived  in  the  8th  Century, 
was  the  first  to  systematize  the  Church  music.     He 


2i6     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

wrote  many  of  the  hymns  sung  today  in  the  Russian, 
Roman  and  AngHcan  Churches,  and  it  was  due  to  his 
efforts  that  the  Russian  Choir  offices  were  standardized. 
Ever  since  the  15th  Century  the  Russian  court  has 
maintained  a  royal  chapel  choir,  and  to  this  day  in  the 
choir  of  the  Imperial  Chapel  one  can  hear  choral  sing- 
ing equaled  nowhere  else  in  the  world.  The  voices 
are  all  male — men  and  boys  whose  lives  are  devoted 
solely  to  this  religious  service.  Ivan  the  Terrible,  fear- 
some though  his  repute,  was  a  patron  of  this  choir  and 
is  said  to  have  composed  several  sets  of  music  for  the 
Church  services.  Later  came  men  such  as  Bereyovsky 
(1745-1777)  and  Bortniansky  (1751-1825),  the  latter 
rated  as  the  Russian  Palestrina,  whose  labors  were  de- 
voted to  the  development  of  the  Church  music.  Since 
that  time  practically  every  Russian  musician  has  com- 
posed some  music  for  the  Church.  It  is,  of  course, 
purely  choral  without  instrumental  accompaniment, 
since  no  instruments  are  permitted  in  the  Orthodox 
Church  service.  Some  of  it  is  wonderfully  simple; 
other  compositions  have  essayed  stupendous  arrange- 
ments for  no  less  than  twenty-four  voice  parts. 


Ill 

Until  the  early  17th  Century,  Russian  music  was 
restricted  to  these  two  classes — folk  songs  and  Church 
music.  In  the  reign  of  Tsar  Alexis  Mikailovich 
(1645-1676)  some  morality  plays  with  incidental  mu- 
sic were  presented  under  royal  patronage.  This  might 
be  termed  the  beginning  of  Russian  secular  music. 
Peter  the  Great  organized  the  first  body  of  musicians 
and  ever  since  those  times  music  in  Russia  has  had  the 


WHEN  RUSSIA  SINGS  217 

loyal  support  of  the  royal  family.^  Under  the 
Empresses  Ann,  Elizabeth  and  Catherine  II  and  the 
Tsars  Paul  I  and  Alexander  I,  everything  was  done  to 
foster  and  disseminate  Russian  music  and  music  in  gen- 
eral. Native  artists  were  generously  supported  in  their 
work,  and  foreign  artists  were  invited  to  Russia,  where 
they  were  kept  by  the  court  and  paid  large  salaries  to 
compose  and  perform  music  for  the  delectation  of  both 
the  upper  classes  and  the  common  people.  Under  these 
alien  musicians  a  great  body  of  music  was  composed — 
operas,  symphonies  and  chamber  music — but  it  was  not 
until  Glinka  wrote  his  "A  Life  for  the  Tsar"  (1836) 
that  there  was  manifested  in  Russian  music  the  striking 
national  individuality  which  has  ever  since  character- 
ized it. 

Glinka's  opera  completely  revolutionized  Russian 
music.  Instead  of  following  Continental  modes  and 
themes,  he  turned  to  his  own  native  land  for  inspira- 
tion. "Not  only  the  subject,  but  the  music,  too,  is  to 
be  Russian,"  he  said,  speaking  of  this  opera  as  he  wrote 
it.  He  was  the  first  to  introduce  the  Russian  folk  songs 
into  a  composition  in  their  native  manner  and  construc- 
tion, and  in  that  lies  much  of  the  mobility  and  indi- 
viduality of  the  opera  and  of  the  work  of  the  men 
who  followed  after.  As  Cui  stated,  "Glinka  has  cre- 
ated a  fully  equipped  Russian  school  of  opera.  'A  Life 
for  the  Tsar'  was  born  in  full  armor,  like  Minerva, 

^  Peter  is  said  to  have  issued  an  imperial  ukase  suggesting  that  the 
people  have  music  with  their  meals,  since  music  had  a  refining  in- 
fluence! In  his  characteristic  Rooseveltian  manner  he  also  issued 
imperial  "invitations"  to  the  people  to  attend  the  theater — and  per- 
haps for  the  same  reason.  The  Empress  Elizabeth  exhibited  some 
of  the  same  lusty  and  intolerant  support  of  music.  It  is  said  that  she 
imposed  a  fine  of  fifty  roubles  on  every  guest  who  failed  to  attend 
her  court  concerts. 


2i8     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

and  its  author  from  the  very  first  moment  found  a 
place  amongst  the  greatest  composers."  The  reward 
for  this  labor  was  Glinka's  appointment  as  Choral  Di- 
rector of  the  Imperial  Chapel,  one  of  the  highest  mu- 
sical honors  Russia  has  to  confer.  With  his  name  starts 
the  Russian  School  of  Music,  a  school  as  distinctive  as 
the  French  and  of  far  greater  possibilities,  as  its  devel- 
opment has  shown. 

The  second  great  step  in  the  development  of  the  Rus- 
sian school  was  the  forming  of  the  MogucTiaya  Kiuchka 
of  "The  Mighty  Group";  in  the  vernacular,  "The  Big 
Five" — Cesar  Cui,  Rimsky-Korsakov,  Borodin,  Bala- 
kirev,  and  Moussorgsky.  It  was  a  group  of  young  men, 
of  which  Cui  was  the  mouthpiece,  that  had  exalted  ideas 
of  its  own  talents  and  ambitions,  and  completely 
scorned  men  of  the  caliber  of  Rubinstein  and  Tchaikov- 
sky. Like  all  young  reformers,  they  were  iconoclasts, 
and  with  the  peculiar  fervor  of  youth  they  made  them- 
selves so  well  known  through  their  propaganda  that 
they  are  not  to  be  overlooked  in  even  this  brief  sketch 
of  Russian  development.  They  had  a  marked  penchant 
for  the  recitative  in  operatic  music  that  became  a  verita- 
ble weakness  with  them.  They  proclaimed  that  "oper- 
atic music  ought  always  to  have  an  intrinsic  value,  as 
absolute  music,  apart  from  the  text,"  that  operatic 
ought  in  itself  to  be  true,  beautiful  music.  Working 
along  these  lines,  they  strove  to  revolutionize  the  Rus- 
sian opera,  a  reform  as  radical  as  Wagner  effected  in 
Germany. 

Both  the  operatic  and  orchestral  music  of  this  group 
is,  by  this  time,  well  known  to  American  audiences,  and 
the  limitations  of  the  work  of  each  of  the  five  men  have 
been  matter  for  current  periodical  comment.     Despite 


WHEN  RUSSIA  SINGS  219 

their  insistent  methods,  despite  the  contempt  they 
showed  for  those  who  would  not  agree  with  them,  they 
carried  on  the  heritage  of  Russian  music  and  found 
ample  inspiration  in  the  folk  songs  of  their  native  land. 
Some  of  it  was  not  strictly  Slavic — some  was  distinctly 
Oriental  and  Persian,  as  in  the  case  of  certain  composi- 
tion of  Rimsky-Korsakov  and  Moussorgsky.  Here 
again  the  vast  extent  of  the  Russian  Empire  must  be 
taken  into  account,  for  while  the  folk  songs  of  the  three 
ethnological  groups  of  Russia — Little,  Great  and 
White — comprise  the  essential  basis  of  the  inspiration 
of  Russian  music,  it  is  just  as  legitimate  to  include 
inspiration  caught  from  the  peoples  on  the  outer  fringes 
of  the  empire.  Even  Glinka  in  his  opera,  "Russian  and 
Lioudmilla,"  used  Tartar,  Arab  and  Persian  dance 
themes. 

Coincident  with  "The  Big  Five"  were  two  composers 
whose  works  have  lifted  the  Russian  School  to  a  place 
justly  preeminent.  The  years  have  taken  no  toll  of 
Tchaikovsky  and  Rubinstein,  and  when  the  works  of 
the  noisy  reformers  shall  have  been  forgotten,  these 
two  will  remain  favorites  with  audiences  the  world 
over. 

Rubinstein  and  Tchaikovsky  were  not  theorists ;  they 
had  no  musical  axes  to  grind ;  they  were  simply  supreme 
geniuses  who  placed  their  mark  on  all  branches  of  Rus- 
sian music  and  left  it  nobler  for  their  efforts. 

Rubinstein  was  as  much  a  giant  in  creation  as  he 
was  a  giant  in  the  flesh,  a  composer  of  the  highest  or- 
der and  one  of  the  unquestionably  great  virtuosos  of 
the  19th  Century.  His  tours  about  the  world  took  the 
nature  of  a  triumphal  progress,  and  those  who  heard 
him  can  never  forget  the  man's  prodigious  vitality  and 


220     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

his  supreme  technique.  Like  any  great  genius  he  lacked 
neither  champions  nor  critics.  Even  in  Russia,  the 
Young  School  of  the  fervid  "Five"  attacked  him  at 
every  opportunity  because  he  refused  to  break  with 
the  traditions  of  the  past.  In  other  countries  as  well 
he  aroused  storms  of  comment  from  those  who  set 
about  to  judge  him — all  of  which,  of  course,  greatly 
amused  Rubinstein.  Writing  about  this  to  a  friend 
he  said :  "The  Jews  consider  me  a  Christian,  the  Chris- 
tians a  Jew;  the  Classics  call  me  a  Wagnerian,  the 
Wagnerians  a  Classic;  the  Russians  say  I  am  a  Ger- 
man, the  Germans  say  I  am  a  Russian."  The  Germans 
were  the  closest  to  the  truth,  for  whatever  trace  of 
foreign  influence  is  found  in  Rubinstein's  work,  it  was 
preeminently  Russian  and  was  permeated  with  true 
Russian  coloring.  Moreover,  through  his  efforts,  Rus- 
sian music  became  known  to  the  world  and  the  first 
Russian  Conservatory  of  Music  was  founded. 

Equally  criticized  but  less  indifferent  to  it  was 
Rubinstein's  contemporary,  Peter  Ilich  Tchaikovsky, 
a  composer  of  extraordinary  fertility  in  all  forms  of 
music.  In  America  he  is  better  known  for  his  sym- 
phonies and  chamber  music  than  for  his  operas,  and 
an  all-Tchaikovsky  program  invariably  means  a 
crowded  house  and  an  enthusiastic  audience. 

The  beginnings  of  Tchaikovsky's  career  show  strong 
alien  influence  (in  his  chamber  music  especially  he 
manifested  the  inspiration  of  Liszt)  but  in  the  course 
of  time  he  developed  his  own  distinct  personality. 
While  he  availed  himself  time  and  again  of  Russian 
folk  themes,  as,  for  example,  in  the  Second  Symphony, 
he  cannot  be  said  to  have  depended  wholly  upon  them 
for  his  inspiration.    He  had  a  distinct  leaning  toward 


WHEN  RUSSIA  SINGS  221 

the  warmer,  more  sensuous  music  of  Italy,  and  he  re- 
garded the  presence  of  Italian  influence  in  his  work 
as  one  of  the  secrets  of  its  quick  appeal.  However 
many  themes  he  borrowed  from  his  native  land,  he  in- 
variably clothed  them  in  the  richness  of  the  South. 
Both  the  Pathetic  Symphony,  No.  6,  and  No.  7  are  ex- 
pressions of  the  luxuriousness  of  sorrow.  The  same 
element  will  be  found  in  his  songs,  of  which  he  wrote 
a  great  number;  the  sentiment  in  them  is  the  sentiment 
of  the  South — a  trieste  sentiment,  sincere  and  over- 
whelming but  reserved  in  some  respects;  quite  a  con- 
trast to  German  sentiment  which  is  a  bit  sloppy  and 
bourgeois.  Traces  of  the  same  sort  of  feeling  can  be 
found  in  the  south  of  Russia — in  the  more  clement 
climates.  A  regal  realism,  an  aristocratic  sorrow,  a 
rich,  mauve  sentiment — these  are  the  things  which  char- 
acterize the  work  of  Tchaikovsky.  A  reflection  of  his 
life?  Doubtless,  for  he  lived  in  a  world  of  extreme 
heights  and  depths,  for  the  most  part  self-created,  but 
none  the  less  genuine. 

Whereas  Rubinstein  was  a  lusty  poet  who  happened 
to  find  expression  in  music,  Tchaikovsky  was  a  deli- 
cately adjusted  musician  whose  depth  of  feeling  could 
be  expressed  only  in  the  fine  nuances  of  tone  and 
rhythm. 

When  the  Russian  Ballet  was  presented,  in  both  New 
York  and  Boston  it  was  subjected  to  police  censor- 
ship. The  apparently  inartistic  and  Puritanical  atti- 
tude of  the  law  aroused  great  indignation  from  those 
who  saw  in  this  suppression  Art  "crucified  on  the  hill 
of  intolerance."  .  .  . 


222     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

But  here  and  there  in  Russia  the  peasants  will  point 
out  to  you  stone  circles,  and  explain  that  they  are 
the  petrified  bodies  of  young  women  who  danced  the 
native  Whitsun  dances  so  demonstratively  and  with 
such  a  showing  of  ankles  that  the  spirits  of  the  forest, 
the  roussalki^  caught  them  in  their  sin  and  turned  them 
to  stone ! 

For  a  matter  of  fact,  the  native  dances  of  the  people, 
with  the  exception  of  the  wild  Cossack  dance,  the 
Kazachok^  and  the  September  "Dance  of  the  Beer 
Brewing,"  are  simple  movements,  scarcely  pronounced 
and  with  little  demonstration.  The  wild  dances  are 
restricted  to  men;  and  a  dance  that  requires  more 
than  the  raising  of  the  foot  slightly  from  the  ground 
is  considered  too  indecent  for  any  self-respecting  peas- 
ant woman  to  join/ 

It  is  well  to  remember  this  fact  in  judging  the  Rus- 
sian ballet.  However  much  it  may  lay  claim  to  the 
inspiration  of  the  peasant  dances,  the  later  forms  of 
the  ballet  as  interpreted  by  Nijinsky  and  Pavlowa  are 
the  product  of  a  Russian  school  of  dancing  rather  than 
the  product  of  the  people.  In  its  development  it  has 
gone  far  from  its  source.  Acceding  to  the  demand  for 
exotic  color,  form  and  rhythm,  it  has  long  since  passed 
from  the  original  phases.  It  has  taken  music  not  in- 
tended for  choreographic  purposes  and  set  to  it  a 
gorgeous  scenic  display  and  corrupted  forms  of  the 
old  folk  formulas.  In  short,  the  modern  Russian  ballet 
as  it  can  be  seen  in  New  York,  London,  Paris  and 
even  Moscow  and  Petrograd  is  not  a  dance  of  the 
people;  it  is  a  development  of  the  Russian  school  of 

^Apropos  of  this  the  folk  songs  are  equally  decorus.  Of  the  thou- 
sands of  peasant  ballads,  there  are  few  indeed  that  would  make  a  girl 
blush. 


WHEN  RUSSIA  SINGS  223 

dancing  that  in  the  past  found  its  source  in  the  folk 
games  of  the  masses. 

These  games,  as  I  have  said,  are  very  simple,  decor- 
ous and  quiet.  The  older  girls  usually  take  part,  with 
the  men  furnishing  music  from  an  accordion  or 
balalaika.  They  celebrate  the  wedding  feast,  the  com- 
ing of  spring,  the  sowing  of  the  seed,  the  garnering 
of  the  harvest,  and  in  some  instances  the  old  heathen 
legends  which  are  part  and  parcel  of  moujik  folk  lore. 
The  capering  and  horse  play  that  characterized  the 
English  morris  dances  in  Tudor  days,  the  sophistica- 
tion that  accompanies  their  revival,  and  the  indis- 
criminate mingling  of  the  sexes — these  things  are  quite 
unknown  in  the  moujik  dancing  games.  The  general 
movements  of  the  dances  are  not  unlike  those  of  our 
old-fashioned  cotillions;  the  girls  group  themselves  into 
two  lines,  facing  each  other,  turn  about,  beat  time  with 
their  heels,  turn  around  again,  sing  the  accompaniment 
songs.  There  is  scarcely  any  gesture,  and  the  foot 
simply  trips  along  the  ground.  These  are  the  move- 
ments that  characterize  the  Khorovad^  danced  during 
the  first  week  after  Easter  to  celebrate  the  return  of 
spring,  the  Trepak,  the  Kamarinskaya,  the  Goloiivets 
(the  Dance  of  the  Doves)  and  the  Cuckoo  Dance — the 
most  famous  of  the  peasant  games. 


For  over  300  years  the  ballet  has  been  a  distinctive 
phase  of  higher  Russian  life.  As  early  as  1675  ballets 
were  presented  before  the  court,  and  in  his  reign  Peter 
the  Great,  with  characteristic  insistence  on  Western 
culture,  gave  the  ballet  his  hearty  imperial  sanction. 


224     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

Italian  and  French  ballet  masters  were  imported  under 
the  Empress  Ann,  and  a  Ballet  Academy  came  into 
being  as  a  branch  of  the  Government,  which  it  has 
remained  ever  since. 

To  a  stranger  this  paternal  fostering  of  the  arts  by 
the  Russian  Government  is  a  situation  difficult  to  un- 
derstand. ...  In  Yakutsk,  in  the  hinterlands  of  the 
Empire  where  the  Tsar  owns  great  stretches  of  gold 
fields,  a  miner  rocks  his  cradle  in  an  icy  stream  and 
watches  for  the  yellow  dust.  As  he  gathers  up  the 
precious  sand,  part  of  it  is  laid  aside  for  the  Tsar,  and 
in  turn  the  Tsar's  privy  treasurer  pays  it  out  in  tuition 
for  the  Nijinskys  and  Mordkins,  the  Pavlowas  and 
Lopoukowas  that  you  and  I  witness  from  comfortable 
seats  in  our  theaters. 

For  the  Imperial  Ballet  is  as  much  a  part  of  the 
Russian  Government  as  the  army,  and  with  even 
greater  care  than  is  exercised  in  selecting  her  soldiers 
does  Russia  select  her  dancers.  They  are  fed,  clothed, 
taught  and  cared  for  with  a  jealousy  that  indeed  few 
children  in  the  Empire  know.  Their  little  bodies  and 
minds  are  regularly  and  tirelessly  trained  for  the  great 
art  they  are  eventually  to  practice.  When  they  have 
finished  their  course  they  become  part  of  the  regular 
ballets.  In  return  for  this  work  they  receive  a  modest 
salary,  the  guarantee  of  an  honorable  living  and  a 
place  in  the  society  of  their  world,  and  a  pension  when 
their  dancing  days  are  over.  Whenever  a  member  of 
the  Imperial  Ballet  leaves  Russia  he  must  receive  Gov- 
ernment sanction,  and  he  is  permitted  to  remain  abroad 
only  for  a  stated  period.  Some  of  the  artists  have 
chosen  to  forfeit  their  pensions  and  positions  with  the 
Government  for  the  prospect  of  larger  salaries  in  other 


WHEN  RUSSIA  SINGS  225 

lands,  but  the  majority  of  the  artists  return  at  the  end 
of  their  furlough  to  delight  the  people  of  the  land 
which  makes  their  art  possible. 

There  are  two  branches  of  the  ballet  at  the  two 
Imperial  opera  houses — the  Mariansky  Theater  in 
Petrograd  and  the  Opera  House  in  Moscow.  At  both 
these  theaters  ballet  pantomimes  are  presented  on  an 
average  of  twice  a  week  and  are  well  attended  by  all 
classes. 

The  revolt  against  the  stiff  Classical  ballet  was  first 
begun  by  the  Imperial  Russian  Academy,  and  due  to 
its  efforts  the  more  Romantic  form  of  pantomime  danc- 
ing has  come  into  vogue  and  into  a  permanent  position 
in  the  arts.  Inspiration  was  first  caught  from  the 
dancing  of  Isadora  Duncan  and  the  new  school, 
cordially  welcomed  by  the  Director  of  the  Ballet,  M. 
Fokine,  was  fostered  by  the  growing  lack  of  interest 
in  the  classical  forms.  It  was  a  spontaneous  movement 
on  the  part  of  the  artists  themselves,  and  was  received 
with  equal  spontaneity  by  Russian  audiences  and  art- 
ists of  other  crafts.  Musicians  and  scenic  artists  joined 
the  movement  and  threw  their  efforts  into  the  work — 
Rimsky-Korsakov,  Glazounov,  Bakst  and  a  host  of 
others.  Rich  material  was  found  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Russian  Empire,  in  the  legends  of  old  Moscovy, 
in  Persia,  in  the  Caucasus,  in  Siberia,  and  in  the  lore 
of  the  Cossacks.  Like  the  Russian  School  of  Music, 
the  Russian  School  of  Dancing  was  born  in  full  armor. 
Little  wonder  that  it  captured  the  world!  For  no 
one  nation  has  ever  made  so  great  a  contribution  to 
the  choreographic  arts  and  no  form  of  dancing  has 
been  so  readily  accepted  by  the  discerning  world. 

In  her  schools  of  music  and  dancing  Russia  has  an- 


226     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

swered,  as  no  amount  of  denial  could,  the  charge  of 
barbarism.  The  taunt  flung  at  Russia  by  her  enemies 
has  been  flung  back  in  two  noble  expressions,  expres- 
sions far  nobler  than  the  world  has  hitherto  seen.  "The 
bear  that  walks  like  a  man"  has  turned  out  to  be  a 
man  that  dances  like  a  satyr  and  a  maid  that  flutters 
like  a  swan! 

In  accepting  these  two  forms  of  art  in  Russia  the 
world  has  acknowledged  a  great  spiritual  fact  about 
Russia,  it  has  come  to  a  realization  that  in  no  country 
is  art  more  pure  and  more  unfettered.  The  musical 
successors  of  Rubinstein  and  Tchaikovsky  and  the 
Moguchaka  Kiuchka^  as  well  as  the  dancers  now 
training  to  be  the  Nijinskys  and  Pavlowas  of  a  new 
generation,  are  nobly  cariying  on  the  old  traditions. 
In  their  own  land  they  find  ample  inspiration  to  per- 
petuate these  pure  arts  so  generously  given  the  world. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  RUSSIAN    LAND  OF   PROMISE 

RUSSIA  did  not  possess  a  Horace  Greeley  to  bid 
her  young  men  "go  West."  The  "West"  of 
Russia  lies  to  the  eastward,  beyond  the  Urals; 
and  the  young  men  who  first  went  there  were  not  con- 
sulted on  their  destinies.  They  went — that  was  all. 
And  because  so  many  went  the  way  of  exile  in  those 
400  years,  and  because  their  sufferings  were  untold  and 
their  sacrifices  indescribable,  Siberia  today  bears  the 
worst  name  of  any  region  in  the  world.  For  genera- 
tions it  was  a  pariah  land,  a  prison  land.  To  hundreds 
it  still  is.  As  one  authority  aptly  phrased  it,  "Siberia 
is  at  once  Russia's  reservoir  and  its  cesspool." 
Today,  Siberia  is  Russia's  Land  of  Promise. 


Visualize  a  territory  greater  in  breadth  than  this 
continent,  but  in  about  the  same  geographical  position 
as  that  occupied  by  Canada  and  the  northern  part  of 
the  United  States — to  a  line  drawn  west  from  Savan- 
nah. In  the  extreme  north,  picture  an  arctic  waste; 
south  of  that,  a  wide  timber  belt;  still  further  south 
and  400  miles  wide — ^between  latitudes  ^^°  and  57° — 
a  black  soil  belt,  with  soil  as  black  as  that  in  Michigan; 

227 


228     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

below  that,  reaches  of  prairie  land  tailing  off  to  desert 
and  salt  lakes. 

Conceive  a  chain  of  low  hills  running  north  and  south 
along  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  nearer  than  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  for  Siberia  does  not  start  officially  until  one 
has  gone  lOO  miles  east  of  the  Urals.  About  where 
Yellowstone  National  Park  lies,  locate  a  great  inland 
sea  and  call  it  Lake  Baikal.  Due  south  from  it  sketch 
in  a  cluster  of  mountains,  to  be  labeled  the  Altais. 

At  about  Louisville,  Kentucky,  start  a  river,  run  it 
north  and  call  it  the  Irtish.  At  Kansas  City  start  an- 
other, flow  it  north  and  call  it  the  Tom.  Let  them 
meet  at  a  point  about  where  Sault  Ste.  Marie  lies,  and 
name  the  river  thence  to  the  Arctic  the  Obi.  About  at 
Denver  start  a  fourth  river  and  let  it  wander  to  the 
Arctic  under  the  name  of  Yenesei.  A  little  east  of 
where  you  have  placed  Lake  Baikal  start  a  river  and 
let  it  curve  to  the  east  and  north,  emptying  in  the 
Pacific  north  of  where  Vancouver  stands.  This  is  the 
Amur.  Midway  north  of  it,  in  the  region  of  Calgary, 
Alberta,  begin  a  sixth  great  river  system  and  name  it 
the  Lena. 

You  now  have  a  rough  conception  of  both  the  geo- 
graphical belts  and  the  larger  waterways.  All  the 
rivers  either  flow  north  directly  or  eventually  flow 
in  that  direction.  The  Irtish,  Tom  and  Yenesei  drain 
prairie  lands  in  the  south,  wheat  lands  in  the  middle 
course  and  timber  lands  in  the  northern  reaches.  The 
Amur,  flowing  for  the  greater  part  of  its  course  in 
an  eastward  direction,  drains  a  valley  rich  in  wheat 
soil  and  minerals.  The  Lena  is  banked  with  alluvial 
gold  fields. 

Conceive  this  region  as  it  was  400  years  ago,  in- 


THE  RUSSIAN  LAND  OF  PROMISE  229 

habited  only  by  nomadic  tribes  with  much  the  same 
mixture  of  peaceful  and  warpath  habits  as  our  Amer- 
ican Indians.  Visualize  a  band  of  freebooting  Cossacks 
trickling  over  the  Urals,  fighting  their  way  through 
forest  and  over  prairie,  5000  miles  eastward  to  the 
Great  Ocean.  See,  then,  a  thin  road  thread  its  way 
from  the  Urals  to  the  Pacific.  Mark  it  here  and  there 
with  little  stockaded  forts.  Watch  the  people  who 
come  east  on  that  road — courtiers,  dissenters,  nobles, 
murderers,  thieves,  a  handful  of  settlers. 

About  where  Pittsburg  is,  place  a  dot  and  call  it 
Tcheliabinsk.  Where  Cleveland  lies  locate  another 
and  call  it  Omsk;  about  at  Chicago  find  another  to  be 
called  Tomsk;  at  Gardiner,  Montana,  locate  Irkutsk; 
and  about  where  the  northern  boundary-line  of  Cali- 
fornia bleeds  off  into  the  Pacific,  place  Vladivostok. 

Brush  away  400  years  and  run  a  double-tracked  rail- 
road due  east  from  the  Urals  to  the  Pacific :  the  Trans- 
Siberian.  Draw  another  along  the  course  of  the  Amur 
to  the  Pacific  and  then  south  to  Vladivostok :  the  Amur 
Railway. 

During  1916  there  were  opened  for  traffic  three  new 
lines,  as  follows: 

The  Altai  Railway:  The  line  is  514  miles  in  length 
and  runs  from  Novo-Nicolaievsk  to  Semipalatinsk,  a 
trade  center  on  the  upper  Irtish  River,  connecting  the 
fertile  regions  in  the  foot-hills  of  the  Altais  with  the 
mineral  lands  farther  on.  As  yet  the  Altai  gold  and 
silver  deposits  have  been  poorly  worked,  since  machin- 
ery and  the  means  of  transporting  it  are  both  lacking. 
For  example,  there  are  over  3000  silver  deposits  known 
and  surveyed  in  the  Altais  of  which  less  than  30  have 


230     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

been  worked.  The  same  situation  obtains  in  the  case 
of  the  working  of  reef  gold  and  other  minerals. 

The  Kulundin  Railway:  a  line  serving  the  region 
between  the  Altai  Railroad  and  the  Irtish  River.  It 
runs  south  from  Tartarsky  on  the  Trans-Siberian  120 
miles  east  of  Omsk,  and  drops  south  to  Slavgorod,  200 
miles.  This  is  the  first  line  to  tap  the  steppes  of  the 
western  governments.  It  runs  through  fertile  grazing 
and  wheat  lands. 

The  Kolchugino  Railway:  designed  to  tap  the  Kuz- 
netsk coal  fields,  the  richest  of  all  Russian  coal  deposits, 
lying  south  of  the  Trans-Siberian  R.  R.  about  300  miles 
from  where  Tomsk  is  situated. 

In  addition,  there  has  been  completed  and  opened 
during  the  past  five  years  the  new  northern  main  line 
of  the  Trans-Siberian  running  from  Petrograd  to 
Tumen  and  south  to  Omsk  and  an  extension  from 
Ekaterinburg  to  Kurgan  on  the  Trans-Siberian,  lines 
that  tap  the  resources  of  the  northwestern  steppes. 

There,  roughly,  is  an  idea  of  the  basis  on  which  the 
Russian  Land  of  Promise  is  developing.  Gone  is  the 
old  picture  of  snow  and  ice  and  fettered  exiles  and 
hungry  wolves.  .  .  .  The  Trans-Siberian  express  even 
carries  a  gymnasium  car  in  which  travelers  can  find  suf- 
ficient exercise  to  keep  them  fit  during  the  twelve-day 
journey  across  Asia.  Up  on  the  Amur  at  Blagowest- 
chensk,  you  buy  shoes  made  in  Brockton,  Mass.,  from  a 
clerk  who  remembers  "Little  OP  Broadway"  and  pines 
for  Herald  Square.  The  farmers  thereabouts  use  Amer- 
ican plows  and  harvesters,  and  the  woman  who  can- 
not afford  a  Singer  Sewing  Machine  is  in  a  poor  way. 

To  this  regenerate  land  between  1890,  when  the 
Trans-Siberian  was  being  built,  and   1900,  went  no 


THE  RUSSIAN  LAND  OF  PROMISE  231 

less  than  2,000,000  souls.  In  1908  the  figure  for  the 
year  reached  758,000.  In  1913 — the  latest  figures 
available — a  cool  million  of  them  crossed  the  Urals 
and  threw  in  their  lot  with  the  alleged  wastes  of  snow 
and  ice. 

And  here  lies  the  answer  to  the  situation  we  saw 
in  the  statistics  for  emigration  quoted  in  Chapter  III. 
When  the  Russian  wants  to  find  a  new  land  and  a  new 
life  he  goes  to  Siberia.  From  the  handful  of  Cossacks 
has  grown  up  a  population  of  11,500,000,  nine  mil- 
lions of  which  are  settled  on  the  steppes  of  Western 
Siberia.  The  native  tribes  that  used  to  wander  about 
the  vast  regions  pillaging  and  snatching  their  food 
where  they  could  find  it,  are  now  out-numbered  eight 
to  one,  Siberia  has  ceased  being  a  cesspool  and  has 
become  a  mighty  reservoir. 


II 

In  the  short  space  of  a  chapter  it  is  difHcult  to  con- 
dense all  the  facts  about  a  region  one  and  a  half  times 
as  large  as  the  United  States.  I  have  done  it  at  length 
elsewhere.^  Here  we  can  only  touch  on  the  most 
salient  features  of  the  country  and  sketch  the  broad 
lines  of  its  development. 

First,  we  must  rid  ourselves  of  the  idea  that  Siberia 
is  a  gigantic,  wolf-ridden,  ice-locked  prison-house.  To 
be  sure,  during  the  war  Russia  has  shipped  her  captives 
to  Siberia  where  they  stay  with  scarcely  any  guarding, 
the  legends  about  the  place  being  enough  to  prevent 
the  men  from  straying  far  away  from  camp.     In  a 

^  Through  Siberia,  an  Empire  in  the  Making.     Written  with  Bas- 
sett  Digby.     New  York,  19 12. 


232     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

military  respect  alone  Siberia  is  a  prison  land.  She 
has  her  own  jails  where  she  takes  care  of  her  own  crim- 
inals, and  in  the  north  are  exile  stations  where  men 
condemned  for  life  are  interned,  but  as  a  general  dump- 
ing ground  for  the  criminal  output  of  All  the  Russias, 
Siberia  has  long  since  resigned  the  post. 

In  1900  the  good  folk  got  together  and  made  it  very 
plain  to  those  in  authority  at  Petersburg  that  they 
didn't  intend  permitting  their  land  to  be  made  the 
world's  largest  jail.  They  had  other  plans  for  it. 
Since  that  day  no  criminal  exiles  have  been  shipped 
to  Siberia  and,  save  for  the  deportations  consequent 
on  the  Revolution  of  1905,  comparatively  few  adminis- 
trative exiles.  In  fact,  most  of  the  administrative 
exiles  whose  terms  had  not  elapsed  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war  were  permitted  to  return  to  Russia,  and 
many  of  them  have  already  laid  down  their  lives  for 
the  very  government  against  which  they  revolted ;  many 
are  still  to  be  found  in  the  trenches,  in  the  hospitals 
and  on  the  trains  doing  yeoman's  service. 

In  all  fairness  to  the  facts,  it  must  be  acknowledged 
that  Siberia  is  better  off  to-day  for  its  400  years'  har- 
boring of  political  exiles,  despite  the  hosts  of  crim- 
inals who  also  were  shipped  there.  Imagine  what 
would  be  the  status  of  the  population,  if  for  400  years 
we  had  sent  into  permanent  residence  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, one-tenth  of  our  best  intellectual  and  cultured 
men  and  women,  together  with  the  riff-raff  of  our  towns 
and  cities.  Siberia  to-day  bears  the  traces  of  those 
exiles — more  of  the  intellectual  than  the  criminal.  In 
a  measure  this  is  what  has  given  Siberia  its  forward- 
looking  spirit. 

The  picture  of  eternal  snow  and  ice  is  likewise  an 


THE  RUSSIAN  LAND  OF  PROMISE  233 

exaggeration.  The  climate  of  Siberia,  or,  to  be  more 
precise,  the  climates  of  Siberia  are  approximately  the 
same  as  the  climates  of  the  same  comparative  belts  in 
America.  The  temperature,  however,  runs  to  extremes. 
Along  the  black  soil  belt,  for  example,  the  thermometer 
will  drop  to  30°  below  in  January  and  rise  to  the  dizzy 
height  of  115°  above  in  August.  In  this  region  spring 
and  autumn  scarcely  exist.  Two  weeks  after  the  snow 
had  melted  I  used  to  walk  mile  on  mile  across  the 
steppes  and  through  the  taiga  (virgin  forests)  with 
the  iris  up  to  my  knees,  the  fields  and  woods  pur- 
pling with  them  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  In  Si- 
beria the  cold  is  a  very  dry  cold,  comparable  to  that 
in  our  Dakotas,  and  is  often  accompanied  by  winds. 
In  summer  the  same  winds  drive  dust  storms  that  make 
country  roads  and  many  city  streets  almost  impassable. 
Against  such  emergencies  the  city  streets  are  regularly 
sprinkled.  This  last  fact  may  seem  irrelevant ;  I  men- 
tion it  merely  because  it  sounds  so  delightfully  incon- 
gruous with  Siberia. 

A  third  point  to  remember  is  that  the  Siberian  is 
very  much  up  and  coming.  He  stands  in  relation  to 
the  Russian  somewhat  as  the  Westerner  does  to  us — 
a  bit  quicker  in  step,  more  liberal  and  brisk  in  thought, 
personally  ambitious  and  independent.  In  Siberia 
they  do  not  ask  you  who  your  grandfather  was  or 
what  he  did — for  obvious  reasons.  Each  man  is  much 
on  his  own,  and  even  the  police  there  seem  to  have 
respect  for  personal  liberties.  In  some  centers  there 
is  still  a  flavor  of  the  vermilion  life  that  made  'Frisco 
famous  once  on  a  day;  in  others  there  is  brisk  trade; 
in  others — Tomsk  especially — there  is  high  regard  for 
intellectual  attainments  and  popular  education. 


234     THE  RUSSIANS;  AN  INTERPRETATION 

To  all  intents  and  purposes  the  commercial  life  of 
the  country  is  spread  along  the  lines  of  the  railroads, 
the  Trans-Siberian  mainly.  It  is  unfair  to  the  country, 
however,  to  judge  it  solely  from  what  one  sees  along 
that  belt,  especially  if  one  sees  it  only  from  the  win- 
dows of  the  Trans-Siberian  express  or  learns  of  it  from 
legends  swapped  by  drummers  in  the  cafe  car. 

Not  long  since,  American  students  of  Russia  were  re- 
galed by  a  book  written  by  a  traveler  who  had  seen 
Siberia  mainly  from  the  car  window  and  had  drawn 
from  what  she  saw  and  heard  some  fearsome  morals. 
There  was  the  scandal  about  the  school  girls — how  they 
were  accustomed  to  haunt  the  cafes  in  nothing  but  their 
gymnasium  suits.  The  reader  visualized  bloomered 
maidens  in  bare  arms  and  barer  legs  and  altogether 
scanty  attire,  a  little  touch  that  made  Siberian  cafe 
life  a  relief  after  the  dingy  humdrum  of  Broadway. 
For  a  matter  of  fact,  most  school  girls  in  Russia  wear 
their  gymnasium  suits  most  of  the  time.  It  is  a  modest 
black  or  brown  frock  that  comes  to  the  boot-tops  in  a 
seemly  Victorian  manner,  has  a  high  collar  and  long 
sleeves.  The  majority  of  the  girls  would  be  far  more 
attractive  if  they  didn't  wear  this  gymnasium  suit,  but 
then  the  Government  requires  it  and  it  suffers  from 
the  fact  that  it  takes  its  name  from  the  Teutonized 
title  for  the  Russian  middle  school — the  gymnasium. 
And  so  fades  another  Siberian  legend  I 

But  to  return  to  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway  belt. 
For  a  greater  part  of  the  way — from  the  Urals  almost 
to  Lake  Baikal — it  cuts  through  the  black  soil  region. 
To  the  north  and  south  lie  the  timber  and  mining  sec- 
tions and,  in  the  western  reaches,  the  cattle  lands. 
When  it  reaches  the  region  of  Baikal  and  the  Trans- 


THE  RUSSIAN  LAND  OF  PROMISE  235 

baikalian  ridge  the  biggest  mining  fields  are  tapped. 
Following  the  newly  completed  Amur  Railway,  wheat, 
timber  and  mineral  lands  are  again  brought  into  touch 
with  their  markets. 

Along  the  belts  of  these  railroads  are  the  big  cities : 
Tcheliabinsk,  a  cattle  town  and  an  immigration  dis- 
tributing center;  Omsk,  the  hub  of  the  butter,  eggs, 
meat,  and  hide  trade ;  Tomsk,  a  mining  and  intellectual 
center  where  are  located  the  University  of  Tomsk  and 
the  Technology  Institute;  Crasnoyarsk,  another  wheat 
and  mining  town ;  Irkutsk,  the  administrative  and  min- 
ing capital;  Stretensk,  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Shilka 
and  Amur,  a  mining  outpost;  Blagowestchensk,  where 
mining,  wheat,  education,  murder  and  fine  shops  all  do 
a  flourishing  trade;  and  finally  Vladivostok,  "Queen 
of  the  East,"  the  great  port  on  the  Pacific  and  Rus- 
sia's fortress  facing  Japan,  thirty-six  hours  away  across 
the  waters  to  the  East. 

Thus  the  western  half  of  Siberia  may  be  said  to  be 
devoted  to  wheat  and  cattle;  the  central  part  to  min- 
ing, and  the  eastern  half  to  mining  and  agriculture. 
These  divisions,  of  course,  are  very  rough,  and  the 
reader  had  better  consult  a  map  of  the  country  and 
study  out  from  the  geographical  and  physical  lay  of 
the  land  the  products  naturally  pertaining  to  each  sec- 
tion. 

Statistics  may  also  help  to  picture  the  possibilities  of 
this  vast  region. 

The  annual  overturn  from  eggs  alone  totals  $45r 
000,000,  which  represents  but  40%  of  the  entire  out- 
put, since  the  lack  of  cold  storage  plants  reduces  the 
value  of  sound  eggs  to  that  proportion;  moreover,  the 


236     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 
scale  of  prices  is  much  lower  in  Siberia  than  in  Amer- 


ica.^ 


In  1911  the  butter  industry  turned  out  16,000,000 
pounds,  valued  at  $5,000,000.  This  was  the  product 
of  550  butter-making  artels  with  a  membership  of  120,- 
000.  Of  course,  there  was  a  great  deal  of  butter  made 
in  addition  to  these  figures,  which  represent  only  the 
export  trade  for  1911. 

Of  the  cattle  exported  in  1911  there  were  65,000 
head  valued  at  $1,250,000.  Cereals  valued  at  $15,- 
000,000  were  exported  in  the  same  year.  Hides  were 
valued  at  $3,000,000;  wool  was  worth  $2,000,000. 
Incidentally,  it  is  reckoned  that  there  are  16  sheep 
and  14  pigs  to  every  100  of  population  in  Siberia. 

The  copper  output  in  1911  reached  3,780  tons,  and 
the  coal,  1,986,346  tons.  Later  figures  on  gold  are 
available;  they  show  the  product  for  1913  to  be 
120,280  pounds  (3,007  poods  of  Russian  measurement, 
and  a  pood  is  equivalent  roughly  to  40  pounds). 


Ill 

The  needs  of  a  country  like  Siberia  are  mainly  con- 
nected with  equipment.  Nature  is  bountiful  and  the 
inhabitants  have  only  to  take  advantage  of  her  gen- 
erosity. The  country  is  as  yet  young,  and  the  soil 
has  scarcely  been  more  than  scratched. 

There  are  wheatfields  that  eventually  will  outstrip 
anything  in  the  world.  It  has  been  estimated  that  the 
black  soil  belt  of  Siberia,  if  properly  cultivated,  would 

*In  March,  when  the  rivers  were  frozen  tight  as  a  drum  and  the 
land  was  covered  with  snow,  I  bought  fresh  laid  eggs  from  Siberian 
farmers  for  \z  copecks  (6  cents)  a  dozen.  When  they  discovered  I 
was  an  American,  they  raised  the  price — to  8  cents. 


THE  RUSSIAN  LAND  OF  PROMISE  237 

furnish  food  enough  for  five  times  the  present  popu- 
lation of  European  Russia.  In  order  to  handle 
the  grain  from  this  region,  the  Government  has  started 
to  construct  a  series  of  84  grain  elevators  along  the 
lines  of  the  railways. 

Before  Siberia  can  become  a  vital  factor  in  the 
world's  markets,  she  must  develop  along  two  logically 
connected  lines — railroads  and  population.  Capital 
will  be  required  to  construct  and  equip  these  railroads 
with  up-to-date  stock.  The  present  butter,  egg  and 
meat  trades,  for  example,  use  only  1300  cold  storage 
cars  and  there  are  but  five  cold  storage  centers  along 
the  line  of  the  Trans-Siberian — only  a  fraction  of  what 
is  actually  required.  Until  more  cold  storage  facili- 
ties are  provided  Siberia  can  bring  only  a  small  part 
of  her  perishable  foodstuffs  to  the  markets  of  the 
Continent. 

The  Government  is  keenly  alive  to  the  railroad  situa- 
tion. As  we  have  seen,  it  has  undertaken  the  construc- 
tion of  several  new  lines,  and  has  let  permits  for  nine 
additional  lines  to  syndicates.  Work  on  these  nine 
has  been  started  and  is  progressing.  They  will  be  con- 
structed in  the  period  1917-22  with  1927  as  an  out- 
side date.  These  private-built  lines  are  planned  as 
follows : 

The  South  Siberian  Railway:  This  will  run  from 
Omsk,  across  the  Kirghiz  steppes  through  Akmolinsk 
and,  crossing  the  Irtish  River  at  Pavlodar,  will  continue 
on  through  Slavgorod,  the  present  terminus  of  the 
Kulundin  Railway,  to  Barnaul,  where  it  will  connect 
with  the  Altai  Railway  system  and  the  Kunzetsk- 
Barnual  branch  of  the  Kulchugino  Railway.  This 
line  will  provide  another  trunk  system  across  the  plains 


238     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

of  Western  Siberia,  about  220  miles  south  of  the  pres- 
ent Trans-Siberian,  and  connect  the  railroads  of  Euro- 
pean Russia  with  Minusinsk.  It  will  be  1000  miles 
long  and  in  it  provide  an  outlet  for  the  products  of 
the  Khirgiz  steppes  and  the  rich  agricultural  districts 
along  the  upper  Irtish  and  Obi  Rivers  and  the  mineral 
wealth  of  the  foothills  of  the  Amolinsk  and  Semipala- 
tinsk  districts,  which  are  especially  rich  in  copper,  lead 
and  zinc  ores. 

Akomolinsk-Spassky  Copper  Mines  Railway:  To 
connect  the  proposed  South  Siberian  trunk  line  with 
the  mineral  areas  to  the  south  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
famous  Spassky  copper  mines. 

Slavgorod-Semipalatinsk-Verny  Railway:  This  line, 
which  will  connect  Western  Siberia  with  Central  Asia, 
is  to  run  south  from  Slavgorod,  the  terminus  of  the 
Kulundin  Railway,  to  Semipalatinsk  and  thence,  skirt- 
ing the  foothills  of  the  Altais,  to  Vemy,  the  center  of 
a  very  rich  district  south  of  Lake  Balkhash.  The  total 
length  will  be  1000  miles.  A  branch  line  is  proposed 
to  pass  through  the  Altais  to  Kuldja  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Mongolian  border.  This  will  make  Verny  a  rail- 
road and  trade  center  for  the  great  commerce  of  Mon- 
golia, which,  under  the  Russian  suzerainty,  is  being 
rapidly  developed.  Already  a  railway  is  being  con- 
structed to  Verny  from  a  point  on  the  Tashkent  Rail- 
way in  Russian  Turkestan,  thus  connecting  this  terri- 
tory with  the  railroads  of  Western  Siberia,  and  mak- 
ing possible  the  exchange  of  Siberian  grain  and  other 
products  with  the  semi-tropical  products  of  Russian 
Turkestan  and  Central  Asia. 

Fetropavlovsk-Kokchetav  Railway:  Running  south 
from   the  Trans-Siberian   about  a  hundred  miles  to 


THE  RUSSIAN  LAND  OF  PROMISE  239 

Kokchetav,  this  line  will  serve  the  steppe  region  there- 
abouts, and  will  enable  the  syndicates  to  connect  up 
with  other  lines  in  the  region  for  the  transportation  of 
mineral  products  to  the  south  and  east. 

Ekaterinburg-Kurgan  Railway:  This  forms  a  north 
branch  of  the  Trans-Siberian  between  the  Petrograd- 
Tumen-Omsk  line  already  constructed,  and  the  main 
line  of  the  Trans-Siberian.    It  is  well  under  way. 

Achinsk-Y ensysk  Railway:  This  is  to  be  projected 
from  the  Trans-Siberian  trunk  line  northward  to  the 
headwaters  of  the  Lena  River,  connecting  up  the  Lena 
gold  fields.^ 

In  addition  there  are  railroads  projected  which  will 
further  open  up  the  northern  reaches  of  Siberia — the 
Tiumen-Tomsk  line,  skirting  the  southern  fringe  of 
the  timber  belt,  and  a  line  north  from  Obdorsk  on  the 
lower  Obi  to  a  port  on  the  Arctic  Ocean,  connecting 
up  with  an  ice-free  summer  port. 


IV 

As  in  the  case  of  the  railroads,  capital  is  also  re- 
quired to  equip  the  mines,  to  finance  agricultural  de- 
velopments and  to  foster  manufacturing  in  the  cities. 
There  is  some  British  capital  in  Siberian  mining  at 
present,  a  little  American  and  a  great  deal  of  Ger- 
man. The  resources  of  the  various  mining  regions 
have  barely  been  scratched.  This  is  especially  true  of 
the  Transbaikalian  Mountains  and  the  littoral  of  Lake 
Baikal  where  there  are  oil,  coal,  gold,  iron,  copper  and 
zinc  in  quantities  to  repay  development.     The  Lena 

*This  data  and  that  on  pages  229,  230  appeared  in  the  Report  of 
the  Canadian  Trade  Commissioner  in  Russia. 


240     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

goldiields  in  the  north  can  easily  become  another  Klon- 
dike and  so  can  the  Altai  Mountains  in  the  south,  while 
Baikal  will  eventually  be  another  Baku. 

Siberia  has  but  few  factories,  and  there  is  a  crying 
need  for  the  establishment  of  more.  "In  metal  manu- 
facturers and  agricultural  machinery,  Siberia  is  but 
little  inferior  as  a  consumer  to  European  Russia."  ^ 
The  raw  materials  are  at  hand,  and  all  the  cities  need 
are  Chambers  of  Commerce  alive  to  their  opportunities 
to  attract  foreign  and  native  capital.  At  present  the 
manufactured  goods  have  to  be  transported  half  across 
Asia.  There  is  no  reason  why  there  should  not  be  estab- 
lished in  a  city  like  Irkutsk  a  factory  to  make  agricul- 
tural implements.  It  would  be  a  central  distributing 
point  for  the  Western  steppes  and  the  Amur  Valley. 
In  the  same  way  a  Moscow  fabric  works  might  readily 
find  a  market  for  the  output  of  a  branch  factory  in 
Tomsk.  As  matters  stand,  print  goods,  linens  and 
other  fabrics,  which  are  practically  necessities  of  life 
in  any  nation,  have  to  be  transported  the  several  thou- 
sands of  miles  across  the  Trans-Siberian.  In  the  east- 
ern provinces  Japan  is  fast  capturing  the  print  goods 
trade. 


Doubtless  the  development  of  Siberia  will  follow 
much  the  same  lines  as  the  growth  of  our  West  and 
of  western  Canada.  The  railroads  already  built  and 
building,  together  with  the  vast  waterways  and  the 
northern  Arctic  Sea  route,  will  furnish  contact  with 
the  markets  and  with  civilization.  It  might  speed  mat- 
ters were  the  Russian  Government  to  follow  the  prac- 

*The  Russian  Year  Book  for  1915,  page  515. 


THE  RUSSIAN  LAND  OF  PROMISE  241 

tice  instituted  here  with  good  results — that  of  grant- 
ing the  land  contiguous  to  the  railroad  lines  to  those 
companies  that  construct  the  lines. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  settlers  are  not  wanting. 
Russia  in  Europe  can  easily  spare  another  11,000,000, 
and  with  this  addition  Siberia  would  still  be  far  from 
crowded. 

The  Government  readily  lends  a  hand  to  these  new 
settlers  in  the  Land  of  Promise.  "A  Russian  peasant 
to-day  can  receive  free  transportation  for  himself  and 
family,  his  flocks  and  his  herds  and  everything  that 
he  hath,  from  his  native  village  to  a  settlement  in  far- 
away Siberia.  And  there  he  will  be  given  land  and 
loaned  a  grant  for  a  year's  farming  expenses. 

"Each  male  is  given  forty  and  one-half  acres,  care 
being  taken  that  the  region  to  which  he  is  sent  com- 
pares favorably  in  general  characteristics  with  the  land 
he  had  known  in  Russia.  No  taxes  are  levied  for  the 
first  three  years,  and  only  one-half  of  the  taxes  for 
the  second  three.  Service  in  the  army  is  not  compul- 
sory among  immigrants  until  the  end  of  the  first  three 
years,  that  is  to  say,  until  they  have  cleared  their  fields 
and  built  their  houses.  Moreover,  the  Government 
sees  that  there  is  to  each  family  at  least  one  man. 
Should  the  older  son  die  while  the  younger  is  in  the 
ranks,  the  younger  son  is  dismissed  from  active  service 
and  sent  back  to  the  farm.  If  the  peasant  is  absolutely 
destitute,  the  Government  will  help  in  furnishing  farm 
utensils,  payment  being  set  for  a  later  date  and  on 
the  installment  plan;  will  give  him  seed,  and,  should 
the  first  crop  be  poor,  provide  him  with  the  cash  equiv- 
alent. He  is  allowed  as  much  timber  as  he  needs  for 
the  construction  of  his  house  and  barn.     Moreover,  in 


242     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

order  that  the  farmers  may  learn  modern  agricul- 
tural and  dairy  methods,  the  Government  has  set 
up  dairy  schools  and  agricultural  instruction  sta- 
tions and  offers  series  of  prizes  to  be  competed  for."^ 
Like  any  other  settler  in  a  new  land,  he  must  bear  priva- 
tions, loneliness  and  the  capriciousness  of  the  climate, 
problems  which,  of  course,  can  only  be  solved  by  the 
individual  himself. 

Were  the  Jew  an  agriculturist,  Russia  might  well 
solve  her  troublesome  Semitic  problems  by  abolishing 
the  Pale  in  Europe  and  permitting  the  Jews  to  emi- 
grate to  Siberia.  Unfortunately,  the  Jew  is  not  a  good 
farmer;  even  here  in  America,  where  every  effort  has 
been  made  to  induce  the  Jews  of  the  crowded  cities 
to  take  up  agricultural  life,  the  results  have  been  far 
from  encouraging.  The  Jew  is  first  and  last  a  middle- 
man. Were  Russia  to  open  Siberia  to  unrestricted 
occupation  of  Jews,  the  Siberian  cities  would  soon  face 
the  tenement  problem  with  the  attendant  filth,  crime 
and  crowding  that  are  found  in  New  York,  London, 
Warsaw,  Kiev,  in  fact,  in  any  place  where  Jews  con- 
gregate. There  are  a  number  of  Jews  in  Siberia  to- 
day, so  many  that  the  country  has  earned  the  sobriquet 
of  "The  Jews'  Paradise,"  but  they  are  usually  of  the 
better  classes  such  as  are  permitted  to  dwell  outside 
the  Pale  in  European  Russia. 

Profiting  by  some  of  the  mistakes  made  in  our  West, 
Siberia  can  eventually  become  a  region  of  immense 
development  and  of  immense  material  returns  to  those 
who  settle  there.  The  cooperative  societies,  if  prop- 
erly managed,  will  avoid  the  economic  mistakes  that 

^  Through  Siberia,  an  Empire  in  the  Making.     Richardson  Wright 
and  Bassett  Digby.     Pages  102-3. 


THE  RUSSIAN  LAND  OF  PROMISE  243 

have  blighted  some  sections  of  our  West.  Thus,  in 
the  state  of  Oklahoma,  67%  of  the  farmers  are  ten- 
ants. Wall  Street  controls  the  finances  of  the  locality, 
and  the  farmers  are  only  just  now  awakening  to  the 
necessity  for  cooperation.  In  other  words,  Siberia  can 
be  an  agricultural  country  owned  and  operated  by  the 
people  who  live  there  and  till  the  soil,  instead  of  the 
chattel  land  of  a  group  of  bankers.  The  situation 
among  the  agricultural  populace  seems  to  indicate  the 
probability  of  this  promising  development;  at  least, 
there  are  as  yet  no  wealthy  land-owners  in  Siberia  out- 
side of  the  Tsar  and  the  Royal  Family  (the  immense 
grants  of  land  that  used  to  obtain  have  been  stopped 
by  law),  and  the  multimillionaire  ranch-owner  is  un- 
known, whereas  the  cooperative  societies  are  very  nu- 
merous and  very  active. 

Beside  being  a  region  of  great  material  returns,  Si- 
beria can  be  to  Russia  a  Land  of  Promise  in  that  it 
will  afford  a  legitimate  outlet  for  the  energies  of  new 
generations.  We  in  America  are  apt  to  judge  the  situ- 
ation in  Russia  merely  on  the  basis  of  politics,  corrupt 
politics.  Yet  the  real  facts  of  the  case  are  quite  dif- 
ferent. Of  the  182,000,000  souls  in  the  Russian  Em- 
pire, fully  175,000,000  live  in  European  Russia,  which 
is  by  no  means  capable  of  sustaining  life  and  affording 
means  of  a  livelihood  for  so  large  a  number.  While 
the  average  density  is  only  20  to  the  square  mile,  the 
figure  is  high  enough  to  cause  active  emigration,  since 
the  population  of  Russia  increases  at  the  rate  of  3,000,- 
000  per  annum. 

Congestion  of  this  sort  spells  difRculty  in  gaining 
a  livelihood.  It  breeds  mobs.  It  develops  discontent. 
Now,  the  great  problem  that  faces  Russia  is  not  how 


244     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

much  voice  in  their  own  government  shall  the  people 
of  Russia  be  given,  but  how  shall  a  population  of 
over  175,000,000  be  fed  and  given  a  means  of  earn- 
ing a  living.  Set  the  same  situation  here  in  America, 
and  democracy  would  play  but  a  small  part  in  the  solu- 
tion. To  repeat  the  findings  of  a  previous  chapter, 
the  greatest  evil  Russia  has  suffered  has  been  that  her 
people  have  not  had  enough  to  keep  them  busy,  and 
that  their  Government,  in  its  liquor  monopoly,  put 
temptation  in  the  path  of  workers  and  idlers  alike.  In 
some  regions  the  climate  has  also  reduced  the  oppor- 
tunity for  work — long  winters  used  to  spell  idleness. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  abolition  of  the  vodka  traffic 
and  the  growth  of  industries  have  solved  some  of  the 
difficulty.  Russian  industries  are  not  confined  to  the 
cities,  but  are  largely  situated  in  the  country,  so  that 
the  country  folk  in  the  immediate  vicinity  will  have 
sufficient  to  keep  them  busy  all  the  time  the  factories 
are  working. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  new  agencies  now  tending 
toward  the  development  of  opportunities  for  the  re- 
generation of  the  peasant  will  only  make  competition 
among  the  laborers  in  European  Russia  all  the  more 
keen  and  the  Government  must  attract  to  other  regions 
of  the  Empire  the  overflow  of  her  working  populace. 

Siberia  and  Central  Asia  are  the  two  most  promis- 
ing regions,  and  they  are  already  booming  with  the 
alacrity  of  a  Western  town.  They  not  only  offer  op- 
portunities for  work — they  impel  work:  the  pioneer 
must  either  conquer  the  elements  or  they  conquer  him 
and  he  goes  out  fantee.  When  these  regions  arrive 
at  a  plane  of  economic  power  which  commands  respect, 
they  will  dictate  their  terms  to  Petrograd,  just  as  they 


THE  RUSSIAN  LAND  OF  PROMISE  245 

have  once  or  twice  already  dictated  them,  just  as  the 
West  and  Southwest  of  the  States  to-day  dictate  to  the 
White  House. 

Those  who  have  the  future  of  Russia  at  heart  know 
that  their  Land  of  Promise  lies  in  Siberia.  And  with 
all  the  fervid  wisdom  of  a  previous  American  genera- 
tion, they  are  counseling  their  rising  generations :  "Go 
East,  young  man,  go  East  I" 


CHAPTER  XIII 


Russia's  manifest  destinies 


HE  would  be  a  rash  man,  indeed,  who  would 
attempt  to  draw  the  map  of  Europe  as  it 
will  be  ten  years  hence.  Diplomats  and 
generals  are  capricious  cartographers.  Natural  bar- 
riers no  longer  play  the  deciding  role  they  once  did  in 
the  establishment  of  frontiers.  Modern  warfare  and 
its  consequent  treaty  obligations  disregard  mountain 
ridge  and  swelling  river.  Yet  the  same  forces  that 
tear  up  one  map,  draw  another.  These  are  the  forces 
of  finance,  of  economic  pressure  and  of  national  ideals. 
Russia's  points  of  contact  with  the  world — the  spots 
where  her  economic  development,  her  finance,  and  the 
ideals  of  her  people  touch  the  schemes  of  other  pow- 
ers— are  in  the  Balkans,  in  Poland,  Turkey,  Persia  and 
Manchuria.  In  Poland  she  meets  with  the  Teuton 
forces.  In  Turkey  she  touches  the  Teutonized  Turk- 
ish forces.  In  Persia  she  is  contiguous  to  British 
spheres  of  influence.  In  Manchuria  she  meets  the 
spreading  streams  of  Japanese.  In  the  Balkans  she 
touches  the  Germano-Austrian  scheme  of  empire.  Dur- 
ing the  course  of  the  war  each  of  these  points  has 
been  brought  into  greater  or  less  prominence,  and  each 
has  played  its  part  in  shaping  the  eventual  destinies 
of  the  great  Slav  Empire. 

246 


RUSSIA'S  MANIFEST  DESTINIES  247 


Of  the  warring  powers,  one  alone  has  pleaded  either 
the  financial  or  the  economic  excuse.  Germany  claimed 
"3.  place  in  the  sun" — a  place  for  her  alleged  bursting 
masses  of  population.  In  addition,  lured  on  by  the 
Junkers  who  masqueraded  as  moral  leaders,  the  Ger- 
man people  had  come  to  believe  that  their  divine  call- 
ing was  to  carry  German  Kultur  to  whatsoever  less 
enlightened  land  their  economic  conquests  might  give 
control. 

'  In  cold  fact,  as  the  world  has  since  learned,  these 
seemingly  idealistic  schemes  meant  nothing  more  than 
an  eventual  territorial  expansion  westward  to  gain 
further  command  of  more  North  Sea  littoral,  even 
though  that  movement  m.eant  the  subjugation  and  ab- 
sorption of  Holland  and  Belgium,  and  the  Teutonizing 
of  that  strip  of  Europe  and  Asia  extending  from  the 
North  Sea  to  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf — Berlin 
to  Bagdad.  This  latter  movement  covered  an  area 
inhabited  by  50,000,000  non-Germans,  and  necessi- 
tated the  obliteration  of  the  smaller  Balkan  states.  It 
meant  Deutschland  iiber  alles — iiber  Bulgarian  and 
Serbian  and  Austrian  and  Hungarian  and  Rumanian 
and  Greek  and  Turk  and  Armenian.  This  was  the 
crux  of  the  European  situation,  and  so  sensitively  ad- 
justed was  the  state  of  affairs  that  the  murder  of  the 
Austrian  Grand  Duke  Ferdinand  precipitated  a  world- 
wide conflict. 

The  details  of  what  happened  in  the  four  years  and 
in  the  forty-eight  hours  immediately  preceding  the 
declaration  of  war  on  Russia  have  been  written  of  at 
greater  length  and  in  more  detail  than  this  chapter  can 


248     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

consider.  Summarizing  the  situation  from  both  sides, 
it  is  evident  that  Germany  was  fully  prepared  for  war 
with  Russia — as  she  was  equally  ready  for  war  with 
France — but  that  she  did  not  expect  Russia  to  enter 
the  conflict.  Germany  was  confident  that  her  influ- 
ence at  Petrograd  would  withstand  any  amount  of 
pressure  from  the  people's  side  or  from  the  side  of  Rus- 
sia's allies.  Moreover,  Russia's  power  in  the  Balkan 
States  had  been  gradually  waning — at  least  so  Ger- 
many thought. 

Years  before,  the  Kaiser  had  proclaimed  himself 
the  friend  of  the  Turkish  people,  and  had  ever  since 
seen  to  it  that  the  Turkish  Army  was  officered  with 
men  from  Berlin.  Deliberately,  openly,  Germany  was 
buying  the  favor  of  Russia's  traditional  enemy. 

On  the  thrones  of  Rumania  and  Bulgaria  the  Kaiser 
had  succeeded  in  placing  German  kings,  and  had  mar- 
ried his  sister  to  Constantine  of  Greece. 

In  all  these  developments  the  Kaiser's  moves  were 
obvious.  The  man-in-the-street  knew  about  these  af- 
fairs from  his  daily  papers,  and,  if  he  had  two  grains 
of  wit,  he  also  knew  why  Russia  was  so  intent  on  pre- 
serving the  individuality  and  independence  of  the 
smaller  Balkan  States;  that  was  her  role  in  her  alli- 
ances with  France  and  England. 

While  Germany  was  openly  laying  her  plan  for  the 
Berlin-to-Bagdad  move,  she  was  also  secretly  getting 
her  hand  into  the  foreign  affairs  of  Russia.  In  fact, 
for  six  years,  1910-1916,  a  great  many  of  Russia's  dip- 
lomatic moves  were  directed  from  Berlin.  It  was  in  the 
period  1910-1916  that  Sazanov  was  the  Russian  For- 
eign Minister,  and  although  under  him  Russia's  foreign 
developments  were  vast  indeed,  they  were  also  prac- 


RUSSIA'S  MANIFEST  DESTINIES  249 

tically  developments  in  the  favor  of  Germany.  It 
may  have  been  that  Sazanov  worked  unwittingly,  that 
he  was  not  aware  of  the  ultimate  dreams  of  the  Prus- 
sian Empire.  Such  things  are  wholly  possible.  Nev- 
ertheless, he  played  into  the  hands  of  the  Germans, 
and  Russia  is  paying  the  price.  According  to  M. 
Sazanov,  Austria  was  planning  to  overthrow  the 
status  quo  in  the  Balkans  and  to  establish  her  own 
hegemony  there.  To  offset  this,  he  fostered  the  Serbo- 
Bulgarian  Agreement  (signed  February  29th,  1912), 
which  he  expected  to  be  at  once  a  checkmate  to  both 
Turkey  and  Austria.  Then  came  the  second  Balkan 
War,  which  left  the  Balkans  divided  and  an  easy  prey 
to  Teuton  dreams.  When  Russia  supported  the  claim 
of  Rumania  to  a  strip  of  Bulgarian  territory,  Bulgaria 
naturally  turned  against  Russia,  leaving  Rumania  and 
Greece  apparently  on  the  fence,  and  Serbia  alone 
amenable  to  Russia's  dictates.  When  Serbia  refused 
to  back  down  to  the  Austrian  ultimatum,  the  whole 
diplomatic  house  of  cards  in  the  Near  East  went  crash- 
ing to  the  ground. 

The  war  came  to  Russia  at  a  moment  of  great  in- 
dustrial development,  at  a  time  when  the  Empire  was 
beginning  to  show  signs  of  political  and  commercial 
advancement.  The  Russian  people  did  not  expect 
the  war,  for  the  simple  reason  that  they  had  not  looked 
upon  the  Germans  as  their  foes.  So  great  had  been 
German  influence  in  Petrograd  that  newspapers  print- 
ing criticisms  of  German  methods  in  Russia  were 
quickly  censored  out  of  existence. 

In  diplomatic  circles  there  was  the  influence  of 
Sazanov  and  of  Baron  Rosen.     The  latter  will  be  re- 


250     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

membered  by  Americans  as  the  Russian  Ambassador 
to  Washington.  By  Russians  he  will  be  remembered 
as  the  very  clever  diplomat  who  turned  Japanese  mili- 
tary victory  into  diplomatic  defeat  over  the  long  green 
table  at  Portsmouth  in  1904.  At  that  time  and  ever 
afterward  he  has  shown  himself  to  be  a  friend  of  Ger- 
man interests  in  the  Near  East.  In  a  paper  dated  May 
13,  1913,  Baron  Rosen  counseled  Russia  to  make  a 
total  concession  to  Germany's  scheme  of  development 
in  Europe.  He  suggested  that  Russia  drop  her  dream 
of  a  Slavonic  Empire  and  call  a  halt  on  proselyting 
in  the  Balkans  and  against  Austria-Hungary  in  the 
Slav  provinces  of  that  nation.  Further,  he  advised 
Russia  to  give  up  the  plan  of  ever  gaining  control  of 
Constantinople  and  to  consent  to  the  Dardanelles'  be- 
ing neutralized.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  say  that 
Russia  should  withdraw  from  both  her  alliances  with 
France  and  Great  Britain,  recognize  the  right  of  Ger- 
many to  expand  to  the  Persian  Gulf  and  over  Holland 
and  Belgium  if  need  were,  and  for  Russia  to  turn  her 
attention  solely  to  her  interests  in  the  Far  East. 
Sazanov  followed  the  lines  that  has  been  summarized 
in  this  paper;  under  him  in  1912  Russia  succeeded  in 
establishing  her  suzerainty  over  Mongolia  by  the  terms 
of  the  Russo-Mongolian  Agreement  and  Protocol  signed 
October  21,  1912,  and  in  1915  occurred  an  exchange 
of  territory  in  Manchuria  that  was  further  indicative 
of  the  fact  that  the  path  of  Russian  development  lay, 
according  to  Germany's  dreams,  in  the  Far  East.  This 
scheme  of  development  also  links  up  logically  with  the 
growth  of  the  Russian  Empire  eastward — a  convenience 
for  Germany,  to  say  the  least. 


RUSSIA'S  MANIFEST  DESTINIES  251 


II 


In  the  early  days  of  1915  there  occurred  a  little 
diplomatic  shift  in  Manchuria  that,  at  any  other  time, 
would  have  turned  the  courts  of  Europe  inside  out.  As 
matters  stand,  the  world  in  general  and  the  United 
States  in  particular  are  just  beginning  to  appreciate 
what  the  movement  presaged. 

In  payment  for  munition  assistance  Russia  first 
ceded  Japan  the  northern  half  of  the  Island  of 
Saghalin,  the  lower  half  having  been  given  over  to 
her  by  the  Treaty  of  Portsmouth.  By  this  Japan  ac- 
quired valuable  coal  and  iron  mines.  A  short  time 
later  Japan  was  ceded  the  control  of  Manchuria  up 
to  Harbin.    Let  us  see  what  that  meant. 

Heretofore  the  Russian  trains  ran  south  from  Har- 
bin to  Chang-Chun  on  a  branch  of  the  Chinese  Eastern 
Railway,  the  name  under  which  Russia  operates  across 
Central  Manchuria  and  links  up  the  western  and  cen- 
tral stretches  of  the  Trans-Siberian  trunk  line  with  the 
shorter  line  crossing  the  Maritime  Provinces  to  Vladi- 
vostok. Down  this  Harbin-Chang-Chun  line  were 
scattered  the  little  turreted  forts,  each  with  its  quota 
of  Cossacks,  its  threatening  machine  guns  and  its  wire- 
less connections  with  Petrograd.  Travelers  on  that 
line  when  reaching  Chang-Chun  merely  walked  across 
the  station  platform  and  entered  Japanese  territory  by 
boarding  the  trains  of  the  South  Manchurian  Railway, 
the  corporation  under  which  Japan  operates  in  the 
Liaotung  Peninsula.  Today  the  Japanese  trains  run 
into  Harbin,  and  Russia  does  not  start  until  the 
bulbous  railway  concession  at  that  city  is  reached. 

It  is  easy  enough  to  dismiss  this  as  payment  of  a 


252     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

debt  accrued  by  the  war.  But,  for  a  matter  of  fact, 
Russia's  concession  to  Japan  in  Manchuria  represents 
a  vital  international  change  which  will  radically  affect 
the  situation  in  the  Far  East  and,  in  turn,  involve  the 
prestige  and  power  of  other  nations  there. 

Twelve  years  ago  Russia  was  smarting  from  her  de- 
feat at  Port  Arthur  and  Mukden.  But  she  was  by 
no  means  finally  defeated.  Roosevelt's  offer  of  media- 
tion came  at  a  time  when  Russia  was  about  to  turn 
the  tables  on  Japan,  an  interference  which  the  Russian 
people  have  not  forgotten  and  which  accounts  for  the 
Douma's  quick  and  conclusive  reply  to  the  peace  over- 
tures of  President  Wilson.  In  the  years  that  followed 
the  Treaty  of  Portsmouth,  Russia  and  Japan  kept  very 
close  watch  on  each  other  in  Manchuria.  Every  up- 
rising, every  epidemic,  every  attack  by  native  brigands 
was  taken  as  an  excuse  for  throwing  along  the  line 
of  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railway  a  fresh  regiment  of 
troops.  In  the  spring  of  1910-11  Russia  had  half  a 
million  men  of  all  branches  of  the  service  east  of  Lake 
Baikal,  and  along  the  lines  of  the  Chinese  Eastern 
Railway  and  the  Amur  Railway  she  was  building  sub- 
stantial barracks  to  accommodate  enormous  bodies  of 
troops.  For  her  part  Japan  was  doing  the  same.  She 
was  calculated  to  have,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
several  regiments  more  than  were  permitted  her  accord- 
ing to  her  agreement  with  Russia. 

In  these  years  the  commercial  jealousies  of  Russia 
and  Japan  were  anything  but  covert.  A  traveler 
through  that  neighborhood  who  kept  his  eyes  open 
would  have  judged,  and  rightly,  that  the  region  was 
due  for  another  war  in  about  five  years.  In  the  north, 
Russia  was  fast  completing  the  Amur  Railway,  which 


RUSSIA'S  MANIFEST  DESTINIES  253 

extended  over  the  shoulder  of  North  Manchuria,  and 
had  surveyed  a  line  to  run  south  from  Blagowestchensk 
on  the  Amur  River  to  Tsitsitar  on  the  Chinese  Eastern 
Railway.  Meantime,  Russia  has  also  sufficiently  con- 
solidated her  control  over  Mongolian  trade  to  justify 
the  establishment  of  a  suzerainty.  The  situation  re- 
solved itself  into  Russia  and  Japan's  checkmating  each 
other  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Far  East. 

Instead  of  conflict  in  that  region  came  the  European 
War — Russia's  Balkan  point  of  contact  with  the  Euro- 
pean powers  broke  into  flame.  Japan  went  into  Kiao- 
Chou,  took  the  German  Pacific  Islands  and  wiped  Ger- 
many off  the  map  in  the  Far  East.  With  this  accom- 
plished, she  became  little  more  than  a  neutral.  She  was 
assigned  the  duty  of  policing  the  Far  East,  and  of  an- 
swering what  she  was  told  to  answer  when  the  neutral 
powers  sent  out  their  peace  overtures.  Her  people  have 
since  waxed  fat  on  munition  orders,  and  her  Govern- 
ment has  acquired  in  Central  Manchuria  further  lands 
in  which  can  be  settled  some  of  the  teeming  millions 
of  Hondo,  Shikoku  and  Kyushu. 


Ill 

Let  us  now  look  at  another  point  of  contact;  the 
Trans-Caucasus,  where  Russia  touches  Turkey  and 
Persia  and  the  outer  fringe  of  the  British  Empire. 

In  the  winter  of  1915-16,  when  the  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas  had  been  beaten  back  before  the  onrush  of 
Mackensen  and  Hindenburg  past  Warsaw,  the  world 
was  suddenly  puzzled  by  an  order  relieving  him  of 
command  on  the  Russian  western  front  and  shipping 
him  to  the  Caucasus  as  Governor  General.    At  the  time 


254     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

it  was  interpreted  as  a  mark  of  the  Tsar's  personal  dis- 
favor, and  from  that  day  on  the  Tsar  was  at  the  front. 
There  were  credible  rumors,  circulated  by  the  press, 
to  the  effect  that  the  Grand  Duke  was  planning  to 
usurp  the  throne  and  that  the  pro-German  forces  in 
Petrograd  had  caused  his  dismissal  because  he  had  pur- 
sued his  attacks  with  too  great  vigor. 

At  the  same  time  Britain  was  pushing  her  Meso- 
potamian  campaign,  reaching  northward  from  the  Per- 
sian Gulf  for  the  relief  of  Kut-el-Amara,  which  unhap- 
pily came  too  late.  She  was  also  throwing  away  the 
lives  of  countless  men  on  Gallipoli.  Her  scheme  of 
attacking  Turkey  from  both  sides  was  a  logical  enough 
procedure. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  remembered  that  for 
a  century  England  has  stood  in  the  way  of  Russia's 
attaining  Constantinople  and  the  Dardanelles  for  fear 
that  this  possession  would  mean  the  eventual  encroach- 
ment upon  India  and  Persia.  The  campaign  up  from 
the  Persian  Gulf  may  be  interpreted  as  part  of  Eng- 
land's maneuvers  against  Turkey;  it  may  also  be  in- 
terpreted as  a  movement  to  safeguard  that  region  from 
Russian  approach. 

At  another  point  on  these  pages^  I  have  said  that  the 
Slavophil  dream  of  extending  the  Russian  Empire  un- 
til it  shall  be  contiguous  to  the  land  of  another  Chris- 
tian power  in  Asia  is  by  no  means  dead.  Russia  is 
spending  vast  sums  to  open  up  her  South  Siberian  and 
Central  Asiatic  provinces  with  railroads.  The  Trans- 
Caspian  region  promises  to  be  one  of  the  richest  wheat 
fields  in  the  world.  One  of  the  first  things  the  Grand 
Duke  asked  for  after  reaching  his  new  post  was  half 

^  See  page  97. 


RUSSIA'S  MANIFEST  DESTINIES  255 

a  million  roubles  to  be  devoted  to  planting  the  rich 
land  acquired  from  the  Turks.  Frankly,  Russia  in- 
tends to  put  the  Caucasus  and  the  Trans-Caspian 
regions,  together  with  Siberia,  on  the  commercial  map. 
When  the  Grand  Duke  was  relieved  of  his  command  he 
had  by  no  means  proved  himself  a  failure.  He  had 
brought  his  army  intact  through  a  long  retreat — an 
accomplishment  that  all  great  tacticians  from  Csesar 
down  regarded  as  being  even  more  difficult  than  win- 
ning an  open  victory  in  the  field.  Granted  that  he 
had  been  driven  back  and  that  Poland  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  Prussians,  Russia  still  possessed  mtact  the  bulk 
of  her  forces,  forces  that  Brusiloff  later  used  for  his 
advance  in  the  summer  of  1916.  The  transfer  of  the 
Grand  Duke  to  the  Caucasus  cannot  be  interpreted  as 
a  military  rebuke ;  for  it  meant  that  he  was  given  com- 
mand of  a  vital  point  on  Russia's  frontier.  To  him  it 
was  entrusted  to  harry  the  Turks  from  the  rear,  to 
cooperate  with  the  British,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
guide  the  British  movements  in  a  manner  that  would 
be  most  advantageous  to  Russia. 

Of  late  it  would  seem  that  Great  Britain  has  become 
perfectly  amenable  to  the  idea  of  Russia's  possessing 
Constantinople — in  fact,  Trepov,  the  Prime  Minister 
during  the  last  few  months  of  1916,  frankly  stated  that 
the  Dardanelles  and  Constantinople  were  Russia's 
share  of  the  spoils. 

Since  the  war  opened,  England  and  the  English  have 
arrived  at  an  appreciation  of  Russia  and  the  Russians. 
The  almost  sacrosanct  manner  in  which  Russians  are 
regarded  in  England  to-day  must  amuse  those  who 
have  followed  the  course  of  the  two  powers  during 
the  past  twenty-five  years.     Russia  is  England's  pres- 


256     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

ent  fad,  just  as  twenty  years  ago  Germany  was  her 
fad.  Doubtless  this  amity  between  the  two  peoples 
will  last  for  many  years,  but  the  suddenness  of  its 
appearance  should  not  be  permitted  to  cloud  the  facts 
in  the  case.  And  the  facts  are  these:  England  is 
friendly  to  Russia  only  when  it  is  convenient  to  be  so. 
When  Russia  steps  on  England's  toes  or  England  steps 
on  Russia's,  there  will  be  the  same  showing  of  teeth 
and  the  same  rattling  of  sabers  that  there  has  been 
in  the  past.  Russia  is  looking  out  for  her  own  inter- 
ests, just  as  Britain  is  looking  out  for  hers.  She  is 
keeping  an  eye  on  England  in  Central  Asia,  she  is  also 
laying  her  own  plans  in  the  Far  East. 


IV 


It  is  only  right  that  England  should  be  proud  of 
the  manner  in  which  she  has  served  humanity  and  main- 
tained the  balance  of  power  in  the  Far  East.  She  has 
done  more  than  any  other  nation  to  develop  that  region ; 
she  has  put  China  on  her  feet — so  far  as  China  would 
permit  her.  She  has  maintained  peace  there  and  made 
possible  the  trafficking  of  other  nations.  In  this  en- 
deavor she  had  the  cooperation  of  France  in  the  south, 
the  advantage  of  the  presence  of  the  United  States  in 
the  Philippines,  and  in  the  north  the  vigorous  support 
of  Japan.  But  her  claims  over  the  Far  East  have  not 
gone  undisputed.  The  establishment  of  Kiao-chou  was 
Germany's  answer  to  it,  and  Russia's  suzerainty  over 
Mongolia  and  her  recent  concessions  to  Japan  have 
been  others.  In  short,  Russia  is  making  a  bid  for  the 
control  of  that  part  of  the  Far  East  to  which  she  is 
directly  related — North  Manchuria,  Mongolia  and  the 


RUSSIA'S  MANIFEST  DESTINIES  257 

western  regions  of  China  that  can  be  connected  with 
her  Central  Asiatic  provinces  by  rail  across  the  conti- 
nent. Japan  has  taken  the  southern  parts  of  Man- 
churia and  also  Kiao-Chou,  and  is  repelling  every  effort 
on  the  part  of  American  financiers  to  develop  the  rail- 
roads and  other  means  of  internal  communications  of 
China.  Russia  and  Japan  control  the  northern  Far 
East.     Let  no  one  mistake  this. 

In  addition  to  her  just  claim  to  commercial  expan- 
sion in  the  Far  East,  the  Russian  development  is  laid 
on  the  ground  of  temperament.  Being  partly  of  Asiatic 
origin,  she  understands  the  Asiatic,  knows  how  to 
handle  him,  can  look  at  matters  from  his  viewpoint. 
Moreover,  as  the  Orthodox  Church  does  not  proselytize, 
she  can  avoid  those  clashes  of  moral  and  religious 
propaganda  that  constantly  disturb  the  serene  course  of 
Asiatic  life  and  society. 

As  I  have  tried  to  show,  the  idea  of  Russia  and  Eng- 
land's being  eternally  friendly  is  quite  impossible. 
While  England  unquestionably  holds  Russia  in  the 
palm  of  her  financial  hand,  it  is  very  much  to  be 
doubted  if  Russia  will  permit  herself  to  be  crushed  in 
that  commercial  hand  after  the  war,  as  she  permitted 
herself  to  be  held  by  Germany  after  the  Russo-Japanese 
conflict.  In  her  agreement  with  Japan,  Russia  holds  a 
trump  card  against  Britain,  and  she  will  hold  it  to  play 
at  the  right  moment. 

The  Russo-Japanese  Entente  is  a  situation  that  the 
United  States  might  well  watch  closely.  It  has  many 
possible  outcomes,  some  of  them  most  disastrous  to  us 
and  to  the  world's  peace. 

Looking  ahead  ten,  twenty,  thirty  years,  we  can  see 
several  arrangements  of  the  world's  powers :     ( 1 )  Ger- 


2^8     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

many,  Russia  and  Japan,  controlling  a  great  sweep  of 
territory  from  the  North  Sea  to  the  Yellow,  and  oppos- 
ing France,  England,  Italy  and  the  United  States. 
(2)  England,  France,  Russia  and  Italy  and  the  United 
States  opposing  Germany  and  German  expansion.  (3) 
Germany,  England,  France,  Italy  and  the  United 
States  as  against  Russia  and  Japan — the  East  and  the 
West  of  the  world.  I  would  not  prophesy  that  any 
one  of  these  will  come  to  pass.  I  merely  suggest  them 
as  possible  combinations,  and  the  reader  who  likes  to 
dream  in  terms  of  empires  can  do  so  on  this  basis  to 
his  heart's  content. 

It  were  futile  for  the  United  States  to  talk  of  form- 
ing a  League  to  Enforce  Peace  without  having  also 
to  consider  what  part  she  will  play  in  it.  And  if  she 
plays  a  part  she  will  have  to  give  up  the  worn-out 
counsels  against  "entangling  alliances,"  counsels  ut- 
tered generations  before  the  Trans-Atlantic  giants  were 
conceived  and  before  the  Deutschland  made  her  unbe- 
lievable undersea  journey  from  Bremen  to  Baltimore. 
Just  as  no  man  liveth  to  himself,  so  no  nation  liveth 
to  itself.  The  time  has  come  when  the  United  States 
must  decide  what  part  she  is  going  to  play  in  the 
world's  work  beside  making  money  from  it.  In  the 
chaos  of  international  relations  that  now  exists,  we  are 
sure  of  only  one  thing — the  Russo-Japanese  Entente  is 
daily  gaining  power  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Far 
East.  Pacifists  and  the  Middle  West  to  the  contrary, 
it  is  a  situation  well  worth  watching.  We  must  make 
our  bid  for  Russian  friendship,  we  must  maintain  cor- 
dial relations  with  England  and  France  which  hold 
Russia  in  fee,  for,  if  a  conflict  between  the  East  and 


RUSSIA'S  MANIFEST  DESTINIES  259 

West  does  come  to  pass,  we  will  not  be  permitted  to 
wash  our  hands  of  the  whole  matter. 


Russia's  other  point  of  contact  with  alien  powers  is 
Poland. 

Poland  has  ever  been  the  scapegoat  of  the  nations. 
She  has  been  battled  with  and  battled  over,  and 
whether  victorious  or  defeated  she  eventually  has  had 
to  pay  a  terrible  price  for  very  existence  itself.  The 
German  paper  Kingdom  of  Poland  and  its  bombastic 
establishment  in  the  fall  of  1916  was  too  crudely  car- 
ried out  to  deceive  even  the  most  stupid.  Germany 
needed  troops  and  workers,  and,  in  exchange  for  as 
many  fighting  and  working  units  as  the  German  Gov- 
ernor General  could  assemble,  Poland  was  given  some 
famous  scraps  of  paper.  When  that  land  is  drained 
dry,  and  if  the  German  power  still  exists,  Germany  will 
doubtless  take  the  unfortunate  country  for  her  own — 
at  least  as  much  of  it  as  she  has  wrested  from  Russia. 

The  German  charges  of  Russian  atrocities  in  Poland 
and  the  Russian  countercharges  amount  to  nothing 
more  than  the  pot  calling  the  kettle  black,  with  more 
proof  on  the  Russian  side  since  she  can  call  in  Bel- 
gium to  witness  the  terrible  methods  of  the  German 
military  machine.  The  same  can  be  said  of  the  treat- 
ment each  of  these  nations  gave  Poland  previous  to 
the  war.  In  her  Polish  provinces  Germany  ruled  with 
just  as  strict  a  hand  as  Russia  ruled  in  hers.  There 
was  the  same  attempt  to  subjugate  the  people  and  to 
assimilate  them.  But  Germany  had  carried  her 
methods  even  farther — she  had  commercially  invaded 


26o     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

and  taken  possession  of  Russian  Poland  five  years  be- 
fore the  European  War  blazed  up.  The  rapid  indus- 
trial growth  of  Poland  during  those  five  years  was 
due  mainly  to  German  capital  and  to  the  concessions 
made  to  German  migration  by  Count  Witte.  Russia 
policed  Poland,  Germany  administered  its  commerce. 
That  was  about  how  the  situation  stood.  The  German 
pleas  for  making  Poland  a  buffer  state  were  the  very 
fabric  and  tissue  of  hypocrisy.  Germany  begged  for 
one  thing  and  was  striving  to  accomplish  the  opposite. 
Poland  was  her  gateway  to  Russia,  and  she  made  every 
possible  use  of  that  entrance. 

What  will  become  of  Poland  is  another  of  those 
prophecies  that  only  a  rash  man  or  a  fool  would  make 
categorically.  The  chaos  of  three  years  of  war  cannot 
be  cleared  away  overnight;  another  generation  must 
pass  before  we  can  know  what  Poland's  destiny  will  be. 
There  is  still  a  great  and  noble  spirit  left  in  the  Polish 
people — that  would  seem  to  be  the  one  thing  that  the 
war  has  not  obliterated  in  Poland  I  Hope  springs 
eternal  in  the  Polish  heart.  Noble  traditions  live  on, 
and  the  Pole — German,  Russian  and  Austrian  alike — 
dreams  of  the  day  when  Poland  will  emerge  again,  a 
knight  in  shining  armor. 

Poland  is  one  of  history's  answers  to  the  question: 
"Can  a  nation  ever  be  totally  destroyed?"  It  may  be 
divided,  it  may  be  subjugated,  its  fair  lands  may  be 
laid  waste  and  its  women  and  children  carried  into 
captivity,  but  the  ideals  of  a  people  are  indestructible 
and  war  only  makes  their  tissue  firmer.  Nations 
crumble  and  pass  away  because  their  people  suffer 
financial  degeneration  of  the  soul.     This  Poland  has 


RUSSIA'S  MANIFEST  DESTINIES  261 

never  experienced.     Suffering  has  bred  in  her  the  will 
to  live.    She  has  never  been  too  proud  to  fight. 

It  would  be  conducive  to  the  peace  of  Europe  were 
Poland  "united,  independent  and  autonomous."  In 
this  respect  Petrograd  concurs  perfectly  with  President 
Wilson's  views.  Russia  promised  this  to  her  provinces 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  Germany  gave  it  un- 
der economic  pressure  on  her  scraps  of  paper.  But  by 
a  united  Poland  Russia  means  a  Poland  consisting  of 
not  only  her  provinces  but  the  provinces  now  controlled 
by  both  Germany  and  Austria.  Yet  it  is  to  be  ques- 
tioned whether  Austria  and  Germany  will  resign  their 
fertile  lands  and  rich  manufacturing  districts  to  any 
such  Utopian  plan.  Surely  it  would  work  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  all  three  nations  concerned  and  to  the  peace 
of  Europe,  but  that  day  is  still  far  off. 

VI 

Russia's  final  point  of  contact  is  Turkey,  and  of  all 
her  possible  avenues  for  reaching  the  ultimate  Russian 
ideal,  this  one  seems  least  obstructed. 

But  why  does  Russia  want  Constantinople?  Why 
does  she  want  the  Dardanelles? 

Land  is  the  last  thing  she  wants.  She  has  enough 
and  plenty.  Nor  is  her  empire  scattered  over  the  seven 
seas,  as  is  Britain's ;  it  is  a  continuous  stretch  from  the 
Baltic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  Arctic  to  the  Caspian, 
one-sixth  of  the  earth's  land  surface. 

Russia  has  suffered  the  loss  of  ten  Polish  provinces, 
inhabited  by  12,000,000  people,  the  richest  regions  of 
the  Empire,  the  Moscow  and  Vladimir  Governments 
excepted.     In  compensation  for  this  loss  she  looks  to 


262     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

Constantinople — Constantinople,  which  will  relieve 
her  of  the  necessity  of  maintaining  costly  defenses 
along  the  Black  Sea;  ConstantrHople,  which  will  give 
her  a  port  open  the  year  round;  Constantinople,  the 
dream  of  her  people  for  centuries.  Speaking  of  Rus- 
sia's aims  in  an  address  to  the  Russian  armies  issued 
December  25th,  1916,  the  Tsar  said:  "Russia's  at- 
tainment of  the  tasks  created  by  the  war — regarding 
Constantinople  and  the  Dardanelles,  as  well  as  the 
creation  of  a  free  Poland  from  all  three  of  her  now 
incomplete  tribal  districts — has  not  yet  been  guaran- 
teed." Trepov,  speaking  for  the  Russian  people  on 
his  assumption  of  the  portfolio  of  Prime  Minister,  said, 
"For  more  than  a  thousand  years  Russia  has  been  reach- 
ing southward  toward  a  free  outlet  on  the  open  sea. 
This  age-long  dream,  cherished  in  the  hearts  of  the  Rus- 
sian people,  is  now  ready  for  realization.  .  .  . 

"From  the  beginning  of  the  war,  wishing  to  spare 
human  lives  and  suffering,  we  and  our  allies  did  our 
utmost  to  restrain  Turkey  from  mad  participation  in 
hostilities.  Turkey  received  formal  assurances  guaran- 
teeing her,  in  exchange  for  neutrality,  the  integrity  of 
her  territory  and  independence,  and  also  conferring  on 
her  certain  privileges  and  advantages.  These  efforts 
were  in  vain.  Turkey  surreptitiously  attacked  us,  and 
thus  sealed  her  own  doom. 

"We  then  concluded  an  agreement  with  our  allies, 
which  established  in  a  most  definite  manner  the  right 
of  Russia  to  the  straits  and  Constantinople.  Russians 
should  know  for  what  they  are  shedding  blood,  and, 
in  accord  with  our  allies,  announcement  is  made  to-day 
of  this  agreement  from  this  tribunal. 

"Absolute  agreement  on  this  point  is  firmly  estab- 


RUSSIA'S  MANIFEST  DESTINIES  263 

lished  among  the  Allies,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  after 
she  has  obtained  sovereign  possession  of  a  free  passage 
into  the  Mediterranean,  Russia  will  grant  freedom  of 
navigation  for  the  Rumanian  flag  which  now,  not  for 
the  first  time,  floats  in  battle  side  by  side  with  the  flag 
of  Russia." 

In  this  direction  alone  lies  the  hope  of  advancement 
for  Russia.  She  has  become  leagued  with  Japan  in 
the  Far  East,  but  Japan  controls  the  whiphand  and 
the  ports.  She  has  been  driven  back  from  all  but  a 
small  strip  on  the  Baltic,  with  Germany  always  in  con- 
trol of  traffic  and  the  seas  there  even  before  the  war. 
Moreover,  the  Russian  people  want  Constantinople  be- 
cause it  is  the  birthplace  of  their  faith  and  ideals — they 
want  it  with  just  the  same  intense  longing  that  Roman 
Catholics  would  want  Rome  were  Rome  in  Moslem 
hands,  and  as  Americans  would  battle  for  Independence 
Hall  were  it  the  office  of  a  German  Governor  General. 

Summing  up,  then,  the  manifest  destinies  of  Rus- 
sia as  they  appear :  ( 1 )  Russia  must  maintain  cordial 
relations  with  Japan  in  order  that  a  balance  of  power 
be  preserved  in  the  Far  East  and  in  order  that  her  trade 
— and  fully  one- third  of  her  trade  goes  through  Japan- 
ese ports — be  unrestricted.  (2)  That  Russia  attains 
Constantinople  in  order  that  she  may  have  an  ice-free 
port  the  year  round  and  in  order  that  the  prayers  and 
hopes  of  her  people  for  centuries  may  be  answered. 
(3)  That  she  do  her  share  in  establishing  "a  united, 
independent  and  autonomous  Poland."  (4)  That  she 
stands  by  ready  to  preserve,  as  she  has  done  before,  the 
integrity  and  independence  of  the  smaller  Balkan 
States. 


264    THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

VII 

A  great  many  Americans  are  more  concerned  with 
the  internal  destinies  of  Russia  than  they  are  with  the 
part  she  is  eventually  to  play  in  the  concert  of  the 
world's  powers.  To  put  this  interest  in  the  form  of 
the  questions  that  are  generally  asked,  we  have  the 
following: 

"What  chance  have  the  Russian  people  to  gain  a 
greater  voice  in  their  own  self-government *?" 

"What  chance  is  there  for  a  better  treatment  of  the 
Jews?' 

I  believe  that  there  will  be  no  bloody  revolution  in 
Russia  so  long  as  the  German  influence  can  be  kept  in 
check.  A  "bloodless  revolution"  is  in  sight,  and  that 
the  world  has  witnessed  from  the  beginning  of  the 
war.  The  fight  between  the  Douma  and  the  bureau- 
cracy has  not  been  a  fight  between  the  bureaucrats 
per  se  and  the  people,  but  a  contest  between  the  pro- 
Germans  and  the  Russian  people  for  the  control  of 
their  government  in  the  management  of  this  war.  So 
long  as  Germany  can  command  the  unrest  of  the  Rus- 
sian people,  it  holds  Russia  helpless.  The  continuation 
of  bureaucratic  rule  in  Russia  works  to  the  advantage 
of  Germany  and  the  worst  defeat  Germany  has  suf- 
fered was  the  attainment  of  the  Russian  people  to  the 
control  of  their  own  internal  affairs  in  March,  1917. 

On  the  other  hand  there  exists  in  Russia  a  condi- 
tion that  causes  doubt;  are  the  Russian  people  as 
yet  in  a  position  to  govern  themselves'?  It  is  easy 
enough  for  socialistic  writers  to  spill  gallons  of  vituper- 
ous  ink  over  the  situation  in  Russia;  the  fact  remains 
that  until  the  masses  are  better  educated,  until  there 


RUSSIA'S  MANIFEST  DESTINIES  265 

arises  a  greater  industrial  class,  until  education  becomes 
more  universal  and  more  available,  it  is  useless  to  speak 
of  The  Republic  of  Russia,  free  and  practicable. 
The  present  reign  has  accomplished  more  toward  the 
attainment  of  freedom  along  these  lines  than  any  pre- 
vious regime,  and  the  improvement  has  been  due  to  the 
efforts  of  the  people  in  their  Zemstvos  and  Municipal- 
ity Unions,  and  through  the  solidarity  of  the  people 
against  the  corrupt  pro-German  bureaucracy. 

The  Jewish  situation  unquestionably  constitutes  one 
of  those  evils  that  Russia  will  soon  crush.  Revo- 
lution will  bring  this  reform — although  the  powers  in 
Russia  are  not  forgetting  that  in  the  last  Revolution, 
40%  of  the  revolutionists  were  Jews  and  in  some  dis- 
tricts it  ran  up  to  90%.^  The  reform  will  come  quickly 
when  it  does  come,  just  as  the  freeing  of  the  serfs 
was  accomplished  quickly  and  the  freeing  of  the  peo- 
ple from  the  bondage  of  drink  was  done  over  night. 

We  have  our  parallels  here.  In  the  lynching 
and  race  riots  we  have  American  practices  that  are 
quite  comparable  to  the  Russian  pogrom,  just  as  our 
"pork"  is  the  American  equivalent  for  the  Rus- 
sian bureaucrat's  "graft."  And  just  as  the  high- 
minded  Americans  blush  for  the  inhuman  discrimina- 
tion against  the  negro  and  the  vicious  attacks  on  his 
race,  so  do  high-minded  Russians  blush  for  the  Pale 
and  the  pogrom.  So  long  as  we  permit  these  evils  to 
exist,  we  have  no  ground  for  criticizing  Russia.  Were 
the  negro  race  a  race  of  bankers  and  did  they  hold  the 
purse-strings  of  the  world,  America  would  doubtless 
be  in  the  same  unfortunate  light  that  Russia  stands 

^Vide  An  Economic  History  of  Russia  by  James  Mavor,  Vol.  II, 
Page  210.  Professor  Mavor  is  quoting  von  Plehve,  the  Minister  of 
the  Interior,  and  agrees  with  his  figures. 


266     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

to-day.  Because  Russia  insists  on  managing  her  Jew- 
ish population  as  she  wishes,  America  cannot  sign  a 
commercial  treaty  with  her  to-day,  and  so  long  as  she 
maintains  that  attitude  she  will  not. 

In  considering  both  these  matters — the  political  free- 
dom of  the  people  and  the  Jewish  situation — it  is  well 
to  remember  that  the  situation  in  Russia  is  not  the  situ- 
ation that  exists  in  the  United  States,  and  that  it  is 
wholly  unfair  to  Russia  to  judge  her  solely  on  the  basis 
of  American  history  or  American  customs. 

In  the  abolition  of  the  vodka  traffic  Russia  has  taken 
the  greatest  stride  forward  since  the  abolition  of  serf- 
dom. Even  the  establishment  of  the  Douma  in  nowise 
compares  with  it.  To-day  the  Russian  in  the  street  has 
a  clear  head  and  a  bit  of  money  in  his  purse.  He  is 
sober  now,  and  thinks;  he  has  the  wherewithal  to  pur- 
chase and  has  become  a  potential  consumer.  And  in 
becoming  a  potential  consumer  he  has  also  attained  the 
plane  of  a  potential  citizen. 

We  in  America  who  are  inclined  to  look  for  drastic 
reforms  must  remember  that  the  recent  revolt  of  the 
leaders  of  the  people  is  more  against  the  German  ele- 
ment in  high  places  than  against  the  concept  of  rule 
from  above.  Russia  will  need  some  figurehead  to 
which  the  vast  populace  can  look  up.  It  is  not  pre- 
pared for  the  republican  form  of  government  as  yet. 
It  is  just  growing  up  to  that  state.  The  people  have 
cleansed  the  old  house.  We  must  not  require  of  them 
that  they  immediately  build  a  new  one. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

RUSSIA  AND  AMERICA 

AMERICA  and  Russia  stand  at  opposite  poles. 
Officially,  no  two  nations  under  the  sun  could 
be  farther  apart.  Between  the  Governments 
exist  no  apparent  bond  of  sympathy,  no  common  inter- 
ests, no  tangible  ground  of  understanding — not  even  a 
commercial  treaty.  In  spite  of  this  disparity  there  can 
be  found  between  the  Russian  people  and  the  people 
of  the  United  States  a  parallel  that  makes  us  almost 
kin.  For  in  the  mind  of  almost  every  Russian  is  an 
inherent  sense  of  democracy,  and  a  desire  for 
democracy. 

Among  the  Russian  people — the  folk  who  labor  and 
fight  and  loaf  and  love — is  to  be  found  cordiality  and 
tolerance  one  would  scarcely  expect  in  a  nation  where 
class  lines  are  so  closely  drawn.  There  is  also  a  free- 
dom of  the  individual  as  an  individual  which  is  quite 
contrary  to  the  conceptions  one  has  of  life  in  Russia. 

The  tolerance  may  be  brusque,  but  the  cordiality  will 
invariably  be  poetic.  The  captain  orders  his  men  to 
face  certain  death  with  him  and  calls  them  "Little 
Doves" — golubchiks — as  he  does  it.  The  isvostik 
will  thrash  his  poor  old  horse  and  call  him  "Little 
Dove"  while  the  blows  are  falling  fastest ! 

The  social  snob  is  an  unknown  quantity  in  Russia. 
This,    for    the    simple    reason    that    the    classes    are 

267 


268     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

so  far  apart.  One  does  not  snub  one's  servants, 
and  one  would  not  think  of  trying  to  snub  a  moujik. 
It  would  be  like  snubbing  a  horse  or  a  lovable  dog.  In 
all  walks  of  life  this  democracy  is  evident;  you  find 
it  in  the  army,  in  the  church,  in  the  schools,  in  the  mar- 
ket stalls,  everywhere.  The  Russian  understands  the 
classes  beneath  him. 

Even  taking  into  account  the  fact  that  human  nature 
is  the  same  in  all  ages  and  all  peoples — verily  it  is  the 
touchstone  of  the  world! — the  Russian  expression  of 
human  nature  is  more  akin  to  the  American  than  it  is 
to  the  British.  This  works  out  in  devious  ways — the 
rise  of  self-made  men  to  positions  of  influence  and 
honor,  an  instinctive  appreciation  of  the  arts,  an  im- 
pressionable religious  sense,  and  a  patriotism  wholly 
voluntary  and  spontaneous.  Russia  "of  the  people  and 
by  the  people"  is  very  much  "for  the  people." 

It  were  futile  to  say  that  we  will  understand  the 
Russian  better  now  that  his  Government  is  more  liberal. 
China  has  had  a  republic  for  well-nigh  a  decade,  and 
we  neither  know  nor  care  more  about  the  Chinese  now 
than  we  did,  save  as  they  appeal  to  us  as  possible  con- 
sumers of  our  wares.  Perhaps  it  is  the  fact  that  our 
Governments  have  been  so  very  different  which  gives 
us  a  basis  for  understanding  the  Russ. 

Our  official  paths  have  crossed  but  little :  the  marks 
of  sympathy  in  the  Civil  War,  the  sale  of  Alaska,  and 
the  abrogation  of  our  commercial  treaty.  America  has 
proved  a  safe  harbor  for  fleeing  administrative  exiles, 
much  as  have  England  and  France.  No,  it  is  not  on 
the  basis  of  Governmental  and  diplomatic  relations 
that  we  can  come  to  understand  the  Russian.  Yet  we 
are  understanding  him  more  and  more  each  day. 


RUSSIA  AND  AMERICA  269 

It  is  remarkable  that  our  misconceptions  about  Rus- 
sia should  be  dispelled,  not  by  denials  issued  by  the 
Russian  Government,  but  by  the  very  affirmative  power 
of  the  Russian  people  as  expressed  in  the  various  phases 
of  their  arts.  Russian  music,  the  Russian  dance,  the 
Russian  novel — these  have  entered  in  where  diplomats 
feared  to  tread,  entered  in  and  found  a  home.  The 
things  that  have  sprung  from  the  soul  of  Russia  have 
awakened  a  sympathy  in  the  soul  of  America.  Our 
harmonies  with  Russia  are  harmonies  of  color,  of  line, 
of  tone  and  of  rhythm. 

Other  international  relationships  invariably  find 
foundation  in  things  different  from  these.  The  blood 
of  the  English  flows  in  the  veins  of  many  of  us.  We 
speak  her  tongue  and  are  beholden  to  her  for  many  of 
our  laws  and  customs.  She  has  been  a  mother — not 
always  kindly,  not  always  faithful,  but  a  mother  just 
the  same.  France  holds  us  in  her  eternal  debt  for  the 
concept  of  political  freedom,  for  the  graciousness  we 
would  possess,  for  the  brilliant  spirit  we  would  make 
our  own  and  for  the  men  who  have  willingly  lived  their 
lives  in  the  cause  of  America.  To  both  of  these  nations 
we  have  been  bound  by  commerce  for  many  years.  The 
foundation  and  superstructure  of  those  friendships  are 
in  barter  and  trade. 

The  relations  between  the  Russian  people  and  the 
American  show  quite  a  different  basis.  From  a  cloud 
of  prejudice  we  are  gradually  emerging  into  the  clearer 
light  of  an  understanding.  And  we  are  being  drawn 
there  not  by  commerce,  but  by  an  appreciation  of  those 
good  things  the  Russian  people  have  to  offer.  Here 
are  hands  stretched  across  the  seas  bringing  things  more 
tangible  than  gold,  more  lasting  than  business.     Here 


270     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

we  can  see  the  soul  of  Russia  awakening  the  soul  of 
America  to  those  matters  that  are  more  important  than 
money — those  things  for  which  no  nation  than  America 
stands  in  greater  need — the  things  of  the  spirit. 

In  the  last  analysis  the  question  is  not,  "What  have 
Russia  and  America  in  common*?"  but  "What  have  the 
Russian  people  to  give  the  American,  and  what  the 
American  to  give  the  Russian*?" 

For  some  years  America  has  been  lingering  at  the 
crossroads.  We  would  seem  to  be  undecided  as  to 
which  path  to  take.  We  have  noble  traditions  to  live 
up  to  and  evil  traditions  to  live  down.  Slowly  the 
whole  order  is  changing.  We  are  awakening  to  some 
very  solemn  facts.  We  are  learning  that  a  nation  can 
gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  its  soul,  that  without 
faith  no  culture  can  exist,  that  no  people  can  advance 
without  some  idee  fixe. 

With  one  exception,  the  wars  America  has  fought 
have  been  wars  of  liberation.  But — and  mark  this 
point — no  sooner  has  she  concluded  such  a  war  than 
the  ideals  of  liberation  have  been  completely  laid  aside 
and  she  has  plunged  herself  into  business  again.  Lib- 
eration is  not  the  idee  fixe  of  the  American  people ;  busi- 
ness is.  And  in  business  America  leads  the  world.  She 
lost  her  chance  at  the  title  of  liberator  when  she  failed 
to  speak  out  for  Belgium  and  for  those  who  went  down 
with  the  Lusitania — her  own  flesh  and  blood.  But  in 
business  she  can  point  a  new  way,  and  perhaps  by  this 
she  may  gain  salvation. 

Business,  as  we  now  understand  it  in  America,  means 
service.  The  corporation  that  builds  a  railroad  builds 
it  for  service,  the  man  who  publishes  a  magazine  pub- 
lishes it  for  service,  the  woman  who  enters  business  life 


RUSSIA  AND  AMERICA  271 

enters  to  serve  others.  Let  this  corporation,  this  pub- 
lisher, this  woman  try  to  labor  without  that  ideal  of 
service,  and  they  are  doomed  to  failure.  In  other 
words,  business  in  America  has  come  to  be  conducted 
"by  the  people  and  for  the  people." 

This  is  one  of  the  greatest  ideals  we  can  carry  to 
Russia  to-day.  Let  our  business  men,  who  are  seeking 
out  markets  there,  remember  this.  Russia  knows  as 
well  as  America  the  lessons  of  political  freedom  on 
which  this  Government  is  based.  Montesquieu  and 
Marx  were  read  by  the  people  of  Russia  more  than  they 
were  read  by  Americans.  But  our  concept  of  commerce 
based  on  service  is  an  ideal  still  to  be  raised  in  the  Slav 
Empire. 

In  return,  America  can  learn  from  Russia  the  value 
of  cooperation.  Freedom  can  be  had  for  the  asking 
in  America;  in  Russia  it  was  not  to  be  had  without 
fighting,  and  those  who  fought  side  by  side  have  learned 
to  labor  side  and  side  for  their  mutual  interests  and 
advantages.  To  dream  of  the  artel  in  America  would 
be  wildly  fantastic,  but  we  are  gradually  acquiring  a 
more  active  spirit  of  cooperation  that  may  result  in 
some  of  the  good  the  artel  in  Russia  has  accomplished. 

Let  America  teach  Russia  the  human  side  of  its  dol- 
lar dynamics  and,  to  pay  the  debt,  Russia  can  teach 
America  the  value  of  class  cooperation. 

In  the  liveliness  of  their  religious  sense  I  believe  that 
Russia  and  America  are  about  equals.  At  all  events 
one  finds  in  no  nation  such  a  spirit  of  true  religion, 
working  seven  days  a  week,  as  he  finds  here  in  America 
and  yonder  in  Russia.  Our  faiths  are  separated  by  a 
great  gulf,  but  they  converge  in  an  infinity  of  ideals. 

The  Russian  is  a  crusader.     He  has  always  been 


272     THE  RUSSIANS:  AN  INTERPRETATION 

a  crusader.  To  him  Jerusalem  is  very  real.  It  is  an 
actual  city  that  he  goes  up  to.  It  is  a  place  where  he 
falls  down  upon  his  knees  and  on  whose  worn  pave- 
stones  he  imprints  the  kiss  of  fealty.  For  that  reason 
Russian  pilgrims  in  thousands  journey  each  year  to  the 
Holy  Lands.  ...  In  America,  Jerusalem  is  an  idea,  a 
concept,  a  symbol.  It  requires  a  vast  amount  of  mental 
journey ings  to  arrive  there  and  perhaps  a  straining  of 
the  mental  eye  to  behold  it.  But  when  we  attain  to  the 
height  whence  it  can  be  seen,  we  hold  it  in  high  regard. 
For  this  reason  the  American  who  actually  goes  up  to 
Jerusalem  is  a  rarity.  In  the  past  our  Jerusalems  have 
been  hills  of  human  wrong.  Some  day,  when  we  shall 
have  recovered  our  old  ideals,  Americans  may  journey 
thither  again  with  swords  unsheathed  and  armor  glis- 
tening. 

Crusading  presupposes  courage. 

"It  would  be  interesting  to  know  what  it  is  men  are 
most  afraid  of,"  remarks  Raskolnikov  in  Crime  and 
Punishment.  "Taking  a  new  step,  uttering  a  new  word 
is  what  they  are  most  afraid  of."  Yes,  that  and  the 
dread  most  of  us  have  of  merging  our  insignificant 
selves  into  a  common  cause. 

Our  unlimited  democracy  has  formed  us  into  a  na- 
tion of  individual  units;  Russia's  unlimited  autocracy 
has  moulded  her  people  into  masses. 

The  man  in  the  street  in  Russia  has  had  kept  before 
him,  either  by  his  class  or  his  Government,  certain 
ideals  not  to  be  forgotten.  They  are  the  ideal  of  na- 
tionalism— the  divine  calling  of  his  Russia;  the  ideal 
of  his  faith — the  "Faith  that  will  overcome  the  world" ; 
the  ideal  of  his  individual  sacrifice  for  the  good  of  the 
race. 


RUSSIA  AND  AMERICA  273 

In  the  last  analysis,  the  facts  of  Russia  are  mainly 
spiritual  facts  and  the  facts  of  America  are  mainly 
material  facts.  That  is  why  America  is  so  easy  to  define 
and  Russia  so  difficult.  Tiutchev  spoke  a  solemn  truth 
when  he  wrote : 

You  cannot  understand  Russia  by  the  intelligence; 
You  cannot  measure  her  by  the  ordinary  footrule ; 
She  has  her  own  peculiar  conformation; 
You  can  only  believe  in  Russia. 


INDEX 


Absolutism,  analysis  of,  43 
beginnings  of,  44 
of  eastern  origin,  44 
some  advantages  of,  42,  43 

Agents  provocateur,  activities  of, 

73 
Agricultural  Schools  and  Experi- 
ment stations,  68 
Alexander  I,  love  for  Germans,  83 
Alexander  II,  freeing  of  serfs  by, 

48 
Alexander        III,        establishes 
Zemstvos,  48 
German  colonization  under,  84 
Alexandrovsk,  145 
Altai  Railway,  Siberia,  229 
America,  and  Russian  trade,  132 
beginnings  of  an  understanding 

of   Russia   in,   269 
democratic  parallel  with  Rus- 
sia, 267 
few    official    points    of    contact 

with  Russia,  268 
foundation    of    French    friend- 
ship  with,   269 
foundations  of  international  re- 
lationships,   269 
relations  with  England,  269 
religious  ideals  a  parallel  with 

Russia's,  271 
Russian    arts   dispel    American 

misconceptions,  269 
service  as  an  ideal  in,  270 
the  lesson  of  Russian  coopera- 
tion to,  271 


American    harvesters   in   Russia, 

159 

American  misconceptions  of  Rus- 
sia, 2,  3,  4 
American-Russian     Chamber     of 

Commerce,  134 
Ann,     Empress,     patron     of    the 

ballet,  224 
Archangel,  145 
Arensky,   3 

Armenians,    treacherous    charac- 
teristics of,  40  n 
Artels,  149 

a     Russian's     comparison     of, 

with  labor  unions,  151 
communistic  bands,  14 
communistic  rules  of,  150 
cooperation,  the  keynote  of,  152 
Art  in  Russia,  197,  208 
architecture,  classical,  204 
architecture,    ecclesiastical,   205 
architecture,         French         and 

Italian  influence,  205 
as  applied  to  furniture,  207 
Bihbin,   book-illustrator,   205 
book-illustrating,  205 
Byzantine    influence    in    early 

frescoes,  202 
church     decoration,     the     first 

form  of,  198 
Davydov,  book-illustrator,  205 
Dutch  and  Danish  influence  on 

frescoes,  203 
Greek  frescoes  at  Kiev,  203 
Korovin,  book-illustrator,  205 


27s 


276 


INDEX 


Art  in  Russia,  ikons,  beginning  of, 
ecclesiastical,  199 

interest  of  tntelligentia  in,  208 

making  of  ikons  a  peasant  in- 
dustry,  203 

Michael  Nesterov,  fresco 
painter,  204 

moujik's  passion  for  gaudy 
colors,  205 

moujik's  skill  in  toy-making, 
206 

national  individuality  of  eccle- 
siastical, 204 

painting  of  ikons,  199 

Polyenov,  Miss,  book-illustra- 
tor, 205 

Rosa  Newmarch,  201  n 

Roubliev,  early  fresco  artist, 
203 

Russian  development  in 
frescoes,  203 

secular,  religious  and  ecclesias- 
tical, 197 

Tsars,   patrons  of,   208 

Vasnietsov,  Victor,  fresco  artist, 
204 

Verestschagin,   198 

Vrubel,  ikon  painter,  204 

Bakst,  225 

Balakirev,    folk    song,    collection 
of,  213  n 

Balkans,   political   wheels  within 
wheels,  249 

Barck,   M.,   148 

Bayarstvo,     landowning     aristoc- 
racy, 25 

Beggardom  as  an  institution,  166 

Beggars,     analysis     of     Russian, 
167,  168 
encouraged  by  clergy,  170 
the    Kremlin    variety    a    pick- 
pocket, 170 


Berenovsky,    church    music    com- 
poser, 216 
Bieloruss  (White  Russian),  char- 
acteristics of,  33 
Biron,    Empress    Ann's    German 

favorite,   83 
Blagowestchensk,    149,    152,    230, 

235 
Bortniansky,    Palestrina   of   Rus- 
sia, 216 
Bureaucracy,    50 
a  necessity,  16 
and  "graft,"  76 
need  for,  63 
Business,    American    methods    of 
acquiring  foreign,   132 
bankruptcy    in    Russia,    140 
bribery  rampant  in  Russia  in, 

138 
complicated  bank  methods,  136 
floating  a  Russian   loan,   141 
French     influence     in     Russia, 

143 

German  commercial  methods, 
132 

German  control  of  Russian, 
141 

German  exports  to  Russia,  142 

graft  in  Trans-Siberian  Rail- 
way,   139 

grafters'  naive  explanation,  139 

"graft's"  punishment  of  Tomsk, 
139 

increase  in  industry  during 
war,  144 

increased  railroad  mileage,  144 

installment  sales,   140 

Jewish  monetary  influence  anti- 
Russian,   141 

lack  of  winter  port,   145 

long  credits   in  Russia,   135 

need  for  study  of  Russian  mar- 
ket, 134 


INDEX 


277 


Business,     Oriental     methods     in 

Russian  dealing,  135 
railroad  monopoly,  147 
Russian  and  American  methods 

contrasted,    138 
Russian    butter    in    New   York, 

146 
Russia's  need  of  commerce,  146 
social    methods    of,    in    Russia, 

137 
sugar  industry  in  Russia,  147 

tea  consumption  in  Russia,  148 
unlikelihood    of    Russia's    re- 
pudiating debts,  143 
value  of  port  of  Alexandrovsk, 

145 

what  American  exporters  must 
learn,   133 

what      Russia       needs      from 
America,  135 

why    Americans    lose    to    Ger- 
mans,   133 
Byron,   Lord,    apostle   of  Roman- 
ticism, 189 

influence  of,  in  Russian  litera- 
ture,  189 
Byzantium,    22,    26 

Cabinet    Council,     portfolios    of, 

49 

Catherine  the  Great,  favors  Ger- 
mans, 83 
Russian      control      of      affairs 
under,  48 

Censor,   the,    50 

Censorship,  stupid  methods  of,  74 

Chesterton,    Gilbert,    on    Russian 
literature,  185 

Chozars,  emigrate  to  Russia,  24 
introduce     commerce     on     the 
steppes,    24 

Christianity,  beginnings  of,  in  Rus- 
sia, 26 


Church,  the,   50 

opposes  popular  education,  70 
vast  land  holdings  of,  69 
Classes  recognized  by  law,  6 
Clergy,     classes     of     priesthood, 

104 
Consumers'    League,    Petrograd's 

successful,  161 
Cooperative     Societies,     Govern- 
ment   financial    aid    to,    162- 
164 
rural  credit  system  and,   162 
Russian    and    American    com- 
pared,  160 
statistics  of,   160 
Cossacks    (Kazak),   affiliate  with 
Russians,   36 
classification  of,  37 
curious    military    "retreat"    of, 

35 
defeat  Tartars  at  Omsk,  37 
fighting  proclivities  of,  36 
organize         the         Zaporogian 

S  etc  ha,  35 
origin   of,   34 

rights    and    privileges    of,    37 
training  of,  37 

Tsarevitch  chief  Ataman  of,  37 
Crasnoyarsk,  235 

Cui,     Cesar,    musical    iconoclast, 
218 
on  Glinka's  Life  for  the  Tsar, 

217 
on  Russian  folk  songs,  213 

Dalny,    Orthodox    Cathedral    at, 

100  t 

"Devil  Chase,  The,"  11  n 
DiaghilefF,  197 
Digby,  Bassett,   Through  Siberia, 

an    Empire    in    the   Making, 

231  n,  quoted  241 
Domovoi  (house  fairies),  123 


278 


INDEX 


Dostoevsky  and  some  others,  177 
196 
analysis  of  literary  style  of,  177 
creed   of,    181 

Crime   and  Punishment,   183 
early  life  of,  180 
epitome  of  Russian  soul,  178 
gives  orthodox  advice,  182 
his  novels  are  diaries,  180 
in  exile,  181 
Insult  and  Injury,  180 
on  Absolute  Beauty,  188,  189 
Poor  Folk,  180 
quoted,  184 
realism  of,  183 

Russian  apostle  of  realism,  184 
study  of  his  characters,  183 
sui  generis,  179 

The  Brothers  Karamazov,   180 
The  Gambler,  180 
The  Genius,  183 
The  Idiot,  184 
"Doss"  houses  of  Moscow,  166 
Doukoboors,   125 
Duncan,  Isadora,  225 

Economic     History      of     Russia, 

Mavor,   quoted,   55 
Edict  of  Toleration    (1905).   93. 

125 
Education,  cost  of,  in  Russia,  62 
opposition  to,  by  Church,  70 
recent  growth  of,  in  Russia,  62 
school  attendance,  62 
England,  beneficial  influences  of, 
in  Far  East,  256 
new   amity  between,   and  Rus- 
sia, 255 
willing     that     Russia     possess 
Constantinople,  255 
Ethnology  of  Russia,   31 

Fersoova,  149 
Finland,  39 


Fokine,    M.,    Director    of   Ballet, 

225 
Folk  songs  of  Russia,  211 
France,  a  financial  power  in  Rus- 
sia, 143 

Germany,    ambitious   policies   of, 

247 

colonization     of,     under    Alex- 
ander III,  84 

control    of    Russian    industries 

by,  141 
control  of  Sazanov,  248 
exports  to  Russia  from,  142 
growth  of   influence   of,   under 

Empress  Ann,  83 
influence  of,  in  Russia  disclosed 

by  war,  86 
influence  of,  in  Russian  foreign 

affairs,  248 
influence    of,    on    Russian    life, 

25,  82 
influence  of,  on  Russian  rulers, 

82-85 
merchants  of,  in  Russia,  142 
misplaced  confidence  in  her  in- 
fluence over  Russia,  248 
political    mistakes   of,    in   Rus- 
sia, 143 
Russian  press  controlled  by,  85 
systematic  colonization  by,  84 
Glazounov,  225 

Glinka,  A  Life  for  the  Tsar,  217 
founder   of   Russian    School   of 

Music,  218 
Russian  and  Lioudmilla,  219 
Gogol,  3 
Gordhon,   M.,   on   peasants,    152, 

154 
Gorky,   Maxim,    3 

analysis  of  characters  of,  192 
apostle  of  physical  activity,  190 
decline  in  popularity  of,  193 


INDEX 


279 


Gorky,    Maxim,    glorifier   of   ac- 
tion in  crime,  191 
The  Confession,  192 
The  Smug  Citizen,  192 
Thomas  Gordeyev,  192 
Goudonov,  Boris,  establishes  serf- 
dom, 46 
policies  of,  45 
Government  and  country,  distinc- 
tions between,  4 
Government     of     Administrative 

Districts,   50 
Graham,  Stephen,  quoted,  113  n 
With      Poor      Immigrants      in 
America,  193  n 
Great   Russia,    native   character- 
istics, 33 

Hapgood,    Isabel    Florence,    The 
Epic   Songs    of   Russia,    212    n 
History  of  Russia,  V.  O.  Kluchev- 
sky,  quoted,  90 

Ikons,  costly  example  in  Moscow 
cathedral,  202 
importance  of,  in  Russian  life, 

200 

manufacture  of,   a  peasant  in- 
dustry,  202 

not  a  symbol,  but  a  reality  to 
the  peasant,  119 
Illiterates,  percentage  of,  62 
Imperial        Council        {Gosudar- 
stivenni      Sovet),       created, 
48 

functions  of,  52 

membership  of,   51 

organization  of,  51 
Imperial        Douma        {Gosudar- 
stivenni  Douma),   a  training 
school   for   politicians,    57 

causes  of  lack  of  progress,  56 

composition  of,  53 


Imperial  Douma,  creation  of,  due 
to   revolt  of  1905,   54 
established,  48 
estimate  of  its  work,  55 
functions   of,    52,    53 
power  of  Imperial  Council  and 

Senate  over,  61 
power  of  Tsar  over,  56 
the  hope  of  Russia,  57 
Tsar's  power  over,  finds  Amer- 
ican parallels,  56 
Individual  freedom,  2 
Industries,    recent    rapid    growth 

of,  153 
statistics  of,  165 
Infantile  mortality,  66 
Intelligentia,  causes  of  discontent 
of,  71 
characteristics  of,  7,  8 
Irkutsk,    Siberian    administrative 

capital,  235 
Ivan    III,    assumes    absolute    au- 
thority, 45 
defeats  the  Tartars,  30 
first    to    bear    title    of    Tsar, 
23 
Ivan    IV    (The   Terrible),    as   a 
friend  to  his  people,  45 
as    a    music   patron    and   com- 
poser, 216 

Japan,  ceded  control   of  part  of 
Manchuria,    251 
ceded   remaining  half  of  Sag- 

halien,  251 
territorial         gains         through 
European  war,  253 
Jaroslav,   157,   159 
Jew,  the,   and  public  schools,   77 
and  the  Pale,  78 
as    a    political    and    economic 

factor,  76 
classified  as  a  foreigner,  77 


28o 


INDEX 


Jew,   the,   discrimination   against, 

77 
large  percentage  of,  in  Russian 

revolutions,  265 
permitted  residence  places  for, 

78 
Russian   dislike  for,   76 
Russia's  debt  to,  80 
Jewish  question,   exaggeration  of 

importance  of,  80,  81 

Kaluga,   156 

Kansk,  164 

Karamsin,    on    origin    of    Slavs, 

22  n 
Kazak  (Cossack),  origin  of,  34. 
Khirov  Rinok,   abject  misery  in, 
173 
beggar's  lodging-houses,  171 
Kiev,    10,    23,    26 
downfall   of,   29 
rebuilding  of,  31 
Schism  of,  28 
slavery    in,    28 
Kirilov       Monastery,       Vrudel's 

ikons  in,  204 
Kluchevsky,  V.  O.,  quoted,  27  n 
Kolchugino  Railway,  Siberia,  230 
Kostomiarov,  N.,  on  religious  in- 
difference    of     the     moujik, 

Kostroma,    157,    158,    159 
Kouzmine's,  The  Wings,  195 
Kremlin,  beggars  at  the,  168 

view  from  ramparts,   171 
Kulundin  Railway,   Siberia,   230 
Kuprin,   194 
Kursk  Government,  157 
Kustarny  (Cottage  industry),  152 

art  work  of,  153 

Government  handicraft  schools, 
156 

handicraft  work  of,    14 


Kustarny      (Cottage      Industry), 
main  products  of,  156 
statistics  of,  156,   157,  158,  159 

Labor,  Government's  attitude  to- 
ward, 72 

Laws,    beginnings   of,    in   Russia, 
28 

Leskov,     Nicholas,      The     Devil 
Chase,  11  n 

Liberalism,  rapid  growth  of,  75 

Literature,   Russian,   an   index  of 
self-freedom,  195 
Russia's  decadence  in,  195 

Little    Russia     (Malaia    Roosia), 
31,    dialects    of,    32 
native  characteristics,  32 
Ukrainian  tongue  not  taught  in 
schools,  32 

London,    Jack,    apostle    of    brute 
force,   189 
favorite  foreign  author  in  Rus- 
sia,   190 

Lunn,  Mayor,  161 

Mamine,  190  n 

Manchuria,  the  Orthodox  church 

in,  98 
Mashkova  Suren,  69 
Mavor,  James,  An  Economic  His- 
tory of  Russia,  55,  265   n 
Miami,  Ohio,  ref.,  113 
Mikailovich,  Tsar  Alexis,  moral- 
ity plays  under  patronage  of, 
216 
Minusinsk,  164 

Mongol  invasion  of  Russia,  29 
Moscovy,    regenerated,    30 
Moscow,   10,   159 

Angelus,  a  cacophony,  171 
beggars  at  the  Kremlin,  i68 
beggars  of,   166 
"doss"  houses  of,  i66 


INDEX 


281 


Moscow,  "Flea  Market"  of  beg- 
gardom,  172 
Khirov  Rinok,  a  disease-breed- 
ing place,  173 
methods  of  Russian  thug,  173 
successor  to  Kiev,  29 
the    Kremlin    beggar    a    pick- 
pocket, 170 
Moujik,      absence      of      unbelief 
among,  128 
a  socialist  and  revolutionist,  13 
attitude   toward   death,    113 
capacity  for  pity,   12 
causes  of  his  revolt,  67 
characteristics   of,    9 
class  suffering  of  the,  11 
compared      with      peasant      of 

Orient  and  Occident,  9 
contrasted        with        Puritans, 

129 
death  his  gateway  to  life,  ii8, 

119 
desires  of,  15 
Devil,  his  notion  of,  122 
devotion  of,  to  the  Cross,  114 
distrust  of  the  Jew,  68 
dual  nature  of,  118 
Eastern  fatalism  of,   119 
economic  problems  of,  67 
fairies  and  sprites  real  to  the, 

123 
gregarious  and  clannish,  13 
grievances  against  the  Church, 

69 
Heaven    and    Hell,    conception 

of,  122 
his  love  for  the  Tsar,  17 
his  notion  of  the  Trinity,  121 
idolatrous  regard  for  ikons,  120 
interest   of,    in    the    Crucifixion 

and  resurrection,  128 
irreligion    of,     in    youth,     114, 
"5 


Moujik,  life  in  Siberia,  18 
loss  of  working  time   through 

Church  feast  days,  69 
muddled  religious  ideas  of,  121 
pagan  customs  among,  13,  123 
patience  of,  15 
preparation  for  death,  117 
prosperity  of,  through  war,  71 
religion  of,   10,   11,   12,   112-130 
religion  the  foundation  of  his 

life,   130 
religious  pilgrimages  of,  116 
superstitions  of,  123,  124 
the  strength  of  Russia,  9 
unlucky  working  days,   123 
unshaken  faith  of,  128 
why  his  revolts  fail,   16 
Mullakons,    125,    126,    127 
Music   in   Russia,   209-226 
Balakirev,  218 
ballets    before   court   o£   Peter 

the  Great,  223 
Bereyovsky,  church  music  com- 
poser, 216 
Borodin,   218 

Bortniansky,  church  music  com- 
poser, 216 
hylinas,  epic  songs,  212 
Byzantine  and  Greek  influence 

in   church  music,   215 
ceremonial   songs,  212 
characterization       of       Tchai- 
kovsky's compositions,  221 
Church's     opposition     to     folk 

songs,  212 
classification     of     folk     songs, 

214 
on  Russian  folk  songs,  213,  218 
Empress   Elizabeth's    strenuous 

support  of  music,  217  n 
Fokine,  M.,  Director  of  Ballet, 

225 
folk  dances,  223 


282 


INDEX 


Music  in  Russia,  folk  songs,  en- 
vironmental influence,  211 
generous   support  of   music  by 

Tsars   and  Empresses,   217 
Glinka,     founder     of     Russian 

School  of  Music,  2i8 
Glinka's  A   Life  for  the   Tsar 
revolutionizes  Russian  music, 
217 
Glinka's    Russian    and    Lioud- 

milla,  219 
Imperial   Ballet,   224 
Imperial  Chapel  choir,  216 
Ivan   the   Terrible    as    a   com- 
poser, 216 
Kalyeky    Perekozhie,    itinerant 

psalm  singers,  213 
modern  ballet  not  a  folk  dance, 

222 
Moguchaya       Kiuchka,      "The 

Mighty  Group,"  218 
morality  of  native  dances,  222 
morality    plays    and    music    in 

17th  century,  216 
Moussorgsky,  218,  219 
pantomime  dancing,   225 
Peter  the  Great  organizes  first 

body  of  musicians,  216 
revival     of     interest     in     folk 

songs,  215 
Rimsky-Korsakov,  218,  219 
Rubinstein,   genius  of,   219 
Russians   as   naturally  musical 

as  Germans,  210 
St.  John,  of  Damascus,  system- 
atizes church  music,  215 
Tchaikovsky,  genius  of,  219 
Tchaikovsky,        influence        of 

Italian  School  on,  220 
Tchaikovsky,    Peter    Ilich,    fe- 
cundity as  a  composer,  220 
Ukraine  supplies  finest  singers, 

212 


Music  in  Russia,  Wiener's  claim 
of  American  source  of  inter- 
est in  folk  songs,  215 

National  characteristics  not  read- 
ily understood,  2 

Nesselrode,  Alexander's  German 
Foreign  Minister,  84 

Nesterov,  Michael,  fresco  painter, 
204 

Newmarch,  Rosa,  on  ikon  paint- 
ers, 200 

Newspapers,  censorship  and,  74 
Russian     and    American    com- 
pared,   74 

Nicholas,    Grand    Duke,    famous 
retreat  of,   255 
the     politics     of,     transfer     to 
Caucasus    of,    255 

Nicholas  I  adopts  German 
methods,  84 

Nihilism,  futility  of  sporadic, 
86 

Nikon,  Patriarch  of  Moscow, 
standardizes  church  ritual, 
91,  124 

Nijni  Novgorod,  157 

Nobility,      hereditary,     how      at- 
tained, 6 
numbers  of,  6 
personal,  6 
Teutonic  influence  on,  7 

Nomadic  characteristics,  45 

Novgorod,  23,  33,  44 

Omsk,  164,  235 

Orenburg,   159 

Orthodox  Church,  the,  89 

beauty   of   edifices,    loi 

black  popes,   104 

cathedral  at  Dalny  lost  to  Jap- 
anese, 100 

classes  in  priesthood,  104 


INDEX 


283 


Orthodox  Church,  connection  with 

state    in    time    of    Peter    the 

Great,   89 
elastic  theology  of,   120 
enmity     between     black      and 

white  popes,  105 
exercises   Eastern    influence   on 

State,  90 
failure    of    plans    of,    through 

military  defeat,  99 
first  schism  in,  124 
heretical  sects,   125 
Holy    Synod,    105 

composition  of,  92 

established,  92 
in  17th  century,  90 
interdependence      of      spiritual 

and    military    conquests,    96, 

lOI 

missionaries      in      Manchuria, 

98 
Mullakons,  125,  126 
music  of,   103 
on  the  frontier,  96 
Oriental  elements  of,  120 
political  activities  of,  95 
present  reforms  in  the,  94 
probable  evolution  in,  93 
profound  piety  of  worshippers, 

lOI 

schism  in,  91 
schools  of,   95 

three  divisions  of  edifice,  102 
wealth  of,  93 

white  pope,  a  register  of  vital 
statistics,  106 
compensations    in    hard    life 

of.    III 

duties  of,  104,  105 

held  in  contempt  by  nobility, 

107 
obligatory  marriage  of,  108 
precarious  living  of,  109 


Orthodox    Church,    white    pope, 
raising  of   educational    re- 
quirements of,   107 
small  stipend  of,  io6 

Pale,  the,  78 

New  York  parallel  of,  78 
Pavlova,  158 

Peasant,migratoryhabitsof  the,i65 
some  causes  of  unrest  of,  165 
the  banker's  view  of  the,  152 
the  peasant's  view  of  the,  151 
urban  worker  in  winter,  farmer 
in   summer,    154 
Peter  the  Great,  coming  of  for- 
eigners under,  81 
enlists  foreign   teachers,   47 
establishes  the  Holy  Synod,  92 
organizes   first    body    of   musi- 
cians, 216 
patron  of  the  ballet,  223 
reforms  of,  47 
Petrograd,  10 

Philaret,  Patriarch,  forbids  stat- 
ues in  Russian  churches,  199 
Pogodin,  on  origin  of  Slavs,  22  n 
Pogrom,   compared   to    American 
lynching,  80 
definition  of,  79 
not  necessarily  anti-Jewish,  79 
Politics,  a  post-bellum  prediction, 
257 
Balkan  States,  Russia  ready  to 

preserve  integrity  of,  263 
changed  policy  of  England  to- 
ward Russia,  255 
commercial         jealousies         of 
Russia    and  Japan   in   Man- 
churia, 252 
Constantinople,    value    of,     to 

Russia,  261 
control    of   northern    Far   East 
by  Russia  and  Japan,  257 


284 


INDEX 


Politics,     England's     accomplish- 
ments in  Far  East,  256 

England  willing  Russia  should 
possess  Constantinople,  255 

European  war  prevents  an 
Eastern  conflict,  253 

future  foreign  policy  of  United 
States,    258 

German  and  Russian  influence 
in  Poland,  260 

Germany's  Asiatic  losses  to 
Japan,  253 

Germany's  paper  kingdom  of 
Poland,  259 

Japan,  necessity  for  cordial  re- 
lations between  Russia  and, 
263 

Japan's  territorial  gains 
through  war,  253 

Poland,  German  and  Russian 
atrocities  in,  259 

Poland  Germany's  gateway  to 
Russia,  260 

Poland,  the  scapegoat  of  na- 
tions, 259 

Poland's  destiny,  260 

political  differences  in  Russia, 
40 

possible     alignment    of    world 

powers  after  war,  257 
reasons  for  Grand  Duke  Nich- 
olas'   transfer    to    Caucasus, 

25s 

remainder  of  Saghalien  ceded 
to  Japan  as  munitions  pay- 
ments, 251 

Russia  cedes  portion  of  Man- 
churia to  Japan,  251 

Russia,  cooperation  of  Crown 
in  education  in,  265 

Russia,  Jewish  question  in,  265 

Russia,  people  of  not  educated 
to  self-governing  point,  264 


Politics,  Russian  dream  of  south- 
ern expansion,  254 
Russian  pogroms  and  American 
race  riots,  parallel  between, 
265 
Russian  religion  and  part  Asi- 
atic origin  assets  in  Far  East, 
257 
Russia's    aims    in    the    Trans- 
Caucasus,  253 
Russia's    alliance   with   France 

and  England,  248 
Russia's  fateful  change  of  atti- 
tude in  Manchuria,  252 
Russia's  hopes  for  southern  ex- 
pansion, 254 
Russia's  need  of  ice-free  port, 

263 
Russia's   share    in    establishing 

independent  Poland,  263 
United    States    and    League    to 

Enforce  Peace,  258 
vodka    prohibition,    results    of, 
266 
Polotsk,  23 
Poltava,  158 
Poor     Folk,     Dostoevsky's     first 

novel,  180 
Port  Arthur,  98 
Potapenko's      A    Russian    Priest, 

94 
Pratch,    folk    song   collection    of, 

213  n 
Prohibition  of  vodka,  43 

benefits  of  since  war  began,  9  n 
effect  on  government  finances, 

147 

liquor  statistics,  147  n 
some  effects  of,  63 
to  continue  after  war,  148 
Protestantism,  growth  of,  in  Rus- 
sia, 125  n 


INDEX 


285 


Prussian  influence  in  Russo-Jap- 
anese War,  84 

Pskov,  23,  44 

Punishments,  early,  for  violation 
of  laws,  28 

Pushkin,  quoted,  81 

Pyeshkov,  Alexis  Michaelevitch, 
Gorky's  real  name,  191 

Racial  divisions  in  Russia,  40 
Railroads,    completion    of   Amur, 
144 

double    tracking    of    Trans-Si- 
berian, 144 

increased  mileage  during  war, 
144 

mileage    in    Russia    compared 
with  other  countries,  144  n 

Trans-Caspian,  144 
Raskolnikov,   Crime  and  Punish- 
ment, quoted,  272 
Rasholniks  (Old  Believers),  91 

classes  of,    125 
Rasputin,   194  n 
Religion,  Edict  of  Toleration,  125 

Heaven  and  Hell   according  to 
the  moujik,  122 

heretical  sects  in  Russia,  125 

illogical     religious     prejudices, 
127 

influence    of,    in    life    of    Rus- 
sians, 10,  II,  12 

MuUakons,  125,  126,   127 

of  the  moujik,  1 12-130 

Oriental  influences  in  Orthodox 
Church,  120 

pagan  customs  among  peasants, 
123 

peasants'  idea  of  the  Devil,  the, 
122 

puritan   and   moujik  compared, 
129 

the  many  diverse,  of  Russia,  40 


Religion,    Trinity,    the    peasants' 
notion  of,  121 
unbelief,     absence     of     among 
peasants,  128 
Religions  and  political  redivisions 

of  1 6th  century,  46 
Reshetvokov,   190  n 
Revolt  of  1905,  causes  of,  53 
Revolts,  causes  of  failure  of,   16 
Revolutions,  causes  of  failure  of, 
61 
lack  of  programs  of,  87 
purposes  of,  87 
results  of,  in  Russia,  86 
Rimsky-Korsakov,   3,   213,  225 
Romanov,     Mikail,     elected     em- 
peror by  the  people,  46,  49 
Rosen,  Baron,  anti-Russian  policy 
of,  250 
pro-German,  249 
Roussalki    (water    nymphs),    123 
Rubinstein,  Anton,  genius  of,  219 

on  opinions  of  himself,  220 
Rurik,   Russia's    first    ruler,   25 
Russia  and  America,  267-274 
Russia    and    Democracy,    G.    de 

Wesselitzky,   quoted,   83 
Russia,    American    understanding 
of  people  of,  268 
attunement  of  soul  of,  with  that 

of  America,  269 
autocratic  power   of  Emperor, 

42 
democratic  spirit  of  people,  268 
foreign  elements  introduced  in, 

24-26 
freeing  of  the  serfs,  43 
individual  freedom  in,  267 
prohibition  of  vodka,  43 
the  Russian  a  Crusader,  271 
tolerance  and  cordiality  of  peo- 
ple of,  267 
wheat  fields  of,  132 


286 


INDEX 


Russian,    arms    strengthened    by 
defeat,  i8 
as  a  working  man,  149-176 
as  business  man,  131-148 
Land  of  Promise,  227-245 
piety,  107 
what  is  a,  20 
Russian  Priest,  A,  Potapenko,  94 
Russian     Revieiv,     The,     quoted, 

162-164 
Russia's  manifest   destinies,   246- 
266 
points     of     contact     with     the 
world,  246 

Savings  banks   deposits,   increase 
in,   since   prohibition,   70 
war's  influence  on,  70 

Sazanov,  influenced  by  Germany, 
249 

Scandinavian   growth   in   Russia, 

39 

Scenery,  beauty  of,  5 

Scholzer,  A.  V.  von,  on  origin  of 
Slavs,  21  n 

Secret  Police,  "The  Third  Divi- 
sion," 50 

Senate,  constitution  and  duties  of, 
SO 

Self -Government  in  Russia,  Vina- 
gradoff,  41 

Sergievo      Monastery,      Roubliev 
frescoes  in,  203 

Shaman       (Kalmuck       medicine 
man),  124 

Siberia,     Achinsk-Yensysk     Rail- 
way, 239 
acquired  by  Russia,  39 
Akmolinsk-Spassky      Copper 

Mines  Railway,  238 
Altai  Railway,  229 
an  American  idea  of  the  Rus- 
sian gymnasium,  234 


Siberia,  Blagowestchensk,  mining 
and  wheat  center,  235 

bravest  troops  from,  17 

commercial  life  of,  234 

cooperative  societies  in,  243 

Crasnoyarsk,  wheat  and  mining 
center,  235 

development  analogous  to  our 
West,  240 

egg  production,  235 

Ekaterinburg-Kurgan  Railway, 

239 
exaggerated  notions  of  climatic 

severity,  232 
farm  products,  statistics  of,  236 
freedom    in    greater    than    in 

Russia,  17 
increase  in  population,  230 
Irkutsk,  administrative  capital, 

235 
Jew  in,  the,  242 
Kolchugino  Railway,  230 
Kulundin  Railway,  230 
liberal     government     help     for 

settlers,  241 
mineral  resources,  239 
mineral    statistics,   236 
native   of,   compared   with   our 

westerner,  235 
need    of    capital    for    develop- 
ment, 239 
need  of  factories,  240 
no  longer  a  prison  land,  231 
Omsk,    butter,    egg    and    meat 

products  market,  235 
Petropavlovsk-Kokchetav   Rail- 
way, 238 
projected  railroads,  237,  238 
railroads    and    population,    the 

need  of,  237 
railways  of,  229,  230 
religion  of  tribes  of,  39 
rural  schools  in,  17 


INDEX 


287 


Siberia,  Slavgorod-Semipalatinsk- 

Verny  Railway,  238 
soil  and  rivers  of,  227,  228 
solution   of  Russia's  congestion 

problem,  244 
South  Siberian  Railway,  237 
Stretensk,  mining  outpost,  235 
Tcheliabinsk,  a  cattle  town,  235 
Technology  Institute,  18 
Tomsk,  mining  and  university 

city,  235 
Tomsk  University,  17 
vast      possibilities      of     wheat 

fields  of,  236 
vastness  of,  227 
Vladivostok,  Pacific  port,  235 
wide  variations  in  temperature, 

233 
Sienkiewicz's      With     Fire     and 

Snxiord,  35 
Simeonofka,  157 
Slavery,  in  12th  century,  28 
Slavs,  early  religion  of,  26 

early  tribal  government,  23 

of  the  Carpathians,  21 

of  the  Dnieper  and  Don,  22 

sources  of  the,  21 

von  Tcholzer  on  origin  of,  22  n 
Smolensk,  23 
Social  strata,  distinct  cleavage  of, 

6,  49 
nobles,  6 

the  intelligentia,  7,  8 
the  moujik,  8,  9 
Sologub,  194 

Soloviev,  on  origin  of  Slavs,  22  n 
Sports,    absence    of    at    Russian 

colleges,  73 
Starosta,  leader  of  artels,  150 
Stepniak,   on   peasant  notions  of 

ikons,  120 
Stolypin,  Premier,  summary  meth- 
ods of,  54 


Stolypin      reforms,      agricultural 
schools   and    experiment  sta- 
tions,  68 
increase   in    acreage   of  public 
lands,  68 

St.   Nicholas,    121 

St.  Vladimir  Church,  Kiev,  10 

St.     Vlas,     the     Volas     of     the 
pagans,  121 

Strikes,  German-made,  65  n 

Strlyzic,  125 

Tchaikovsky,  Peter  IHch,  3 

genius    of,    219 
Tcheliabinsk,    235 
Tcherkesoff,  W.  T.,  quoted,  70 
Tchins,   6 

Technology  Institute,   Siberia,   18 
Teutonic   influences,    7 
Teutonic  political  schemes,  247 
Third  Division,   activities  of,  72 
Through   Siberia,   an   Empire   in 
the     Making,     Wright     and 
Digby,   quoted,   242 
Tolstoy,    Count   Dmitry,    3,      127 
a  mingling  of  Orient  and  Occi- 
dent, 178 
conception  of  Absolute  Beauty, 

189 
critical  estimate  of,   186 
efiForts  to  lead  moujik,  188 
enemy  of  Zemstovs,   59 
little   influenced   by   orthodoxy, 

187 
loses  prestige   through  rise   of 

Dostoevsky,    188 
on  moujik  piety,  115 
wavers    between    influences    of 
East    and    West,    186 
Tomsk,   139,  233,  235 
University   of,    17 
Totomianz,     Prof.,     on     financial 
help   to  cooperative   associa- 


288 


INDEX 


tions,    162,    164 
Trepov,    on    southern    outlet    to 

the   sea,   263 
Tsar,   head  of  both  church   and 
state,   49 
power  of,  over  Douma,   56 
powers  of,  49 
Tsarevitch,  chief  Ataman  of  Cos- 
sacks, 37 
Turgenev,  3 

as   a   writer,    178 
quoted,   273 
Tver  Government,  157 
Tveratinov,    Dmitri,    126 

Ufa,  Moslem  college  at,  127 
Uspensky,   1900 
quoted,    no 

Variagians,    protectors    of    trade 

routes,  25 
Vasnietsov,  Victor,  fresco  painter, 

204 
Verestschagin,    Russia's    greatest 

artist,   197,    198 
Viatka,  158 
Vielkoruss       (Great      Russians), 

characteristics  of,   33 
Vinagradoff,  Prof.,    Self-Govern- 
ment in   Russia,  41 
Vladimir,  156,  158,  159 
iconoclast,   199 
founding  of  city  of,  29 
Prince  of  Kiev,  26,  27 
Vladivostok,   145,  235 
V  Narodny  Movement,  53 
Vodka,     enormous    income    from 

sale  of,  66 
.  Volas,   the  pagan  counterpart  of 

St.  Vlas,   121 
Vrubel,   ikon   painter,   204 

War,  and  social  reforms,  63 
effect  of,  in  industries,  88,   144 


V^ar,     effect     of,     on     religious 
thought,  112 
effect  on  Russian  ideal,  71 
reveals    the     astounding    Ger- 
manization  of  Russia,  85 

Wesselitzky,  G.  de,  Russia  and 
Democracy,   quoted,   83 

Vl^hite  Russians  (Bieloruss)  char- 
acteristics of,   33 

Wiener,  Professor,  An  Interpre- 
tation of  the  Russian  People, 
215 

Witte,  Count,  enemy  of  Zemstvos, 

59 
quoted,    72 

Wright  (Richardson)  and  Digby 
(Bassett),  Through  Siberia, 
an  Empire  in  the  Making, 
231  n,  quoted,  241 

Yermak,  Cossack  leader,  37 
Yermolov,  General,  83 

Zemstvos,  6 

advocate  prohibition,  66 

as  aids  to  the  Government,  59 

Assemblies     of     Governmental 
Districts,   58 

assist  kustarny  workshops,  156 

establish     agricultural     schools 
and    farming   credits,    68 

established   by   Alexander   III, 
48,    58 

Executive  Boards,  58 

growing  power  of,  60 

history   of,    58 

offices   of,    58 

power  of   governors   and   gov- 
ernors-general  in,  61 

powers   of,    58 

war  activities  of,  60 
Znakhar   (witch  doctor),  124 
Zwenigorod,    157 


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